Tossing Away the Masks
by SliceNDicer8
Summary: The Naruto and Hinata that Konoha knows are not the real Naruto and Hinata. Ever since a fateful event on Naruto's fifth birthday, they have lived behind masks. Now is the time for their masks to fall and for the world to be shown their true faces. Powerful Naruhina. Hanyou Naruhina. Now with a slight Okami crossover.
1. Prologue: The masks we live by

**(A/N): This is my first fanfic, so no flames unless they are constructive. This story will be naruhina only and will feature a rather overpowered Naruto and Hinata. Please rate and review.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

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Prologue: The Masks we live by

Today was a special day. Today was the day of the final graduation exam of the academy in the village hidden in the leaves. Today was a day when children would celebrate with their parents for becoming registered ninja of the village. Today was a day of happiness for all of those who would graduate. However, today was not the day to celebrate graduation for two young people. These people had failed the graduation exam and would have to wait another year in the academy before taking the exam again. Or that is what they were told.

These young kids' names were Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuuga.

Naruto was a loud, annoying, brash, confident prankster who would yell to the world his dream of becoming Hokage. He was also an orphan and a nobody, and the village pariah.

Hinata was a shy, reserved, quiet young lady who would never dream of hurting anything. She was constantly blushing and hiding her cute face into the heavy coat she wore everywhere, regardless of temperature. She was also the heiress to the biggest and most well renowned clan in Konoha, the Hyuuga.

People who saw these two sitting outside the academy together by the lone tree swing couldn't help but pity them. Or at least they pitied Hinata, there was no way in hell that they would ever pity the demon boy who they blamed for destroying the village 13 years ago. If anything, they pitied Hinata for being lumped in with the demon as a failure. The people saw these two kids looking depressed and thought they knew everything about them.

They didn't know how wrong they were.

The truth was that these two had known each other since a fateful event when they were five. That event changed their lives and created the masks that these two wore now. These masks encompassed everything about them, from their looks to their attitude. These masks where the reason that they failed. These masks were part of their plan that they had carefully worked on since they were 5.

Today was special for these two indeed. Today was special because today was the day that those masks would fall. Today was a turning point in their young lives. Today was the day that they revealed themselves for how they truly were. Today was indeed special.

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**So that is the prologue. Kind of short but it got the background information that was necessary out. The actual chapters will be much longer.**


	2. Chapter 1: Mizuki

**(A/N) Time to get the real story going. The prologue was just to get you introduced to the background of what is happening. I will be using Japanese honorifics to the best of my abilities and I will use mostly Japanese names for Jutsus that already exist.**

**With that, on with the show.**

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Chapter 1: Mizuki

"Ano… Naruto-kun, what happens if our plan doesn't work?" Hinata said quietly.

"Which part of the plan, the Mizuki part or the whole plan?" Naruto said while scanning for any possible eavesdroppers.

"The Mizuki part." Hinata replied.

"It will work," replied Naruto, "The bastard is too power-hungry for his own good. Besides, here he comes now."

Seeing Naruto and Hinata sitting alone by the swing, Mizuki began to walk over to them with a barely concealed smirk on his face. _"This is perfect. Not only did the demon boy fail but the Hyuuga heiress did as well. I will be able to slaughter the demon brat, get the scroll of sealing for Lord Orochimaru, and sell the Hyuuga brat as a slave to the Cloud. I'll be rich, and in good favor with my master. It's a win-win-win situation._ Thinking all of this as he sauntered over to the failures, he got up to them and got their attention.

"Don't you two look rather down in the dumps?" Mizuki asked. "I have just the thing that will cheer you two up. But you have to promise not to tell anyone or else I won't help you."

"What could you possibly have that could cheer us up Mizuki-sensei?" asked Naruto. "The only thing that would cheer us up is another way to graduate, but we all know that that isn't possible."

"But that is where you happen to be wrong Naruto, there is another way you can pass!"

Seeing Naruto and Hinata's faces brighten up, he thought to himself "_They fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Hehehe._"

"Now here is what you two have to do," Mizuki proceeded to explain the location of the scroll of sealing and where to bring it when they got it. "All you two have to do is learn one jutsu from the scroll without getting caught by anyone, and you'll be genin. But remember, if you tell anyone about this then our deal will be void."

Seeing Naruto and Hinata nod in affirmative, Mizuki left to go back home.

**(A few hours later within a forest)**

"Heh, stealing this scroll from the old man was a piece of cake, right Hinata? I mean come on, he got knocked out from one shot of my **Oiroke no Jutsu**."

"While I would agree that a scroll of this importance should be better protected, I will have to ask you to _**never use that jutsu again. Okay Naruto-kun**_**?**" replied Hinata sweetly.

"Um…hehe, sure thing Hinata-chan." Said Naruto nervously. _"Damn, she can be really scary…"_

"Now while I know that stealing the scroll was just part of our plan to expose Mizuki, I don't see why we can't use this scroll to help us learn, so let's learn some jutsus."

"Oh, I know, I can use this cool new scroll copying fuinjustu that I learned from this book that I st-er… _borrowed_ from the advanced ninja portion of the library. That way we can spend our time looking at it."

"That's a great idea Naruto-kun."

Naruto placed the scroll on the ground then took some ink, a brush, and some paper out of his pouch and proceeded to neatly write an intricate seal on the piece of paper. When he finished he placed the paper on the scroll and said "**Fuinjutsu: Scroll Copying Seal**". Black markings erupted from the paper and covered the scroll before returning to the piece of paper. With that done Naruto removed the slip of paper and carefully folded it before placing it in his pouch.

"Done. Now we just have to get a blank scroll or scrolls and activate the seal and it will copy as much of the original onto the new scroll that will fit." Said Naruto triumphantly.

Hinata smiled and said "Now how about we look for anything cool in the scroll before Mizuki gets here."

"Alright"

They both sat down next to each other in between some tree roots and opened up the scroll. The first item listed there caught their interests.

"Hmm…the Kage Bunshin. I never knew that it was a jonin level technique. Sensei failed to mention that when he taught us." Said Naruto as he rambled on his thoughts.

"Well maybe he didn't want us to get a big head like your mask would obviously do if he had learned it." Replied Hinata with a cute giggle.

"Speaking of sensei, he hasn't spoken to either of us for a while now, what do you think he is doing Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata.

"Knowing him he's been spending his time sleeping. Although I do have to wonder when he will let us drop the special henge that he made us put up. It is so annoying not being able to walk in our actual bodies." Replied Naruto with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"While I agree with you about the henge Naruto-kun, you do have to realize that it masks other things besides our appearance. If we didn't have his special henge, who knows what sort of trouble you and me would get into." Said Hinata with another giggle at the end. "Although I do have to imagine that he will let us put it down soon since we are unmasking ourselves today."

Naruto heard rustling in some nearby bushes and quickly told Hinata to be quiet. They were expecting Mizuki to come out of the bushes but surprisingly Iruka popped out instead.

"NARUTO, HINATA, YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH TROUBLE YOU TWO ARE IN!" Screamed Iruka.

"Trouble, what do you mean Iruka-sensei? We got the scroll and learned a jutsu from it, doesn't that mean that we passed?" questioned Naruto.

"Who told you that if you stole the scroll and learned a jutsu that you would pass?" asked Iruka carefully.

Suddenly there was a whistling noise as four shuriken shot out of a nearby bush aimed directly at Naruto. Naruto braced for impact as the shuriken came closer but when he heard the noise of metal piercing flesh he felt no pain. Opening his eyes he saw Iruka leaning over him with blood dribbling down his face and four shuriken sticking out his back.

"That would be me." Said Mizuki evilly. "I was the one who told them to steal the scroll and to come here under the illusion that they would become genin. I was the one who also rigged all of Naruto's tests so that they would be chunin level questions. I also was the one who punished Naruto for things he didn't even do. Do you want to know why Naruto? Why I did these horrible things to you? Why everybody hates you? It's quite simply its because-"

"YOU CAN'T MIZUKI, ITS AGAINST THE LAW TO TELL HIM!" Yelled Iruka desperately.

Ignoring Iruka, Mizuki continued "-because you are the nine tailed demon fox."

Dead silence filled the air. Suddenly Mizuki started laughing manically. "Hehehe…HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA, TO STUNNED TO MOVE AFTER BEING TOLD WHAT YOU ACTUALLY ARE. THAT'S A JOKE. YOU REALLY ARE PATHETIC, DEMON. I'M GOING TO ENJOY SLAUGHTERING YOU AND SELLING YOUR WHORE OF A HYUUGA TO THE CLOUD. THERE IS NO TELLING WHAT THEY WILL DO TO HER BODY THOUGH. HAHAHAHAHA." Suddenly a huge amount of killing intent started rolling off of Naruto. Feeling it, Mizuki started to unconsciously sweat.

Inside Naruto's and Hinata's head they heard a voice which said "**I've had enough of that wimp's pathetic laughter. Destroy him but keep him alive, I'm sure your Hokage will want to have a few words with him. You shouldn't need my help."**

They both replied in their heads "Hai, sensei."

The killing intent coming off Naruto suddenly doubled in amount, and added on top of it Hinata started pouring out her own, matching the level of Naruto's.

Mizuki started to really sweat as he felt their combined killing intents bury him. "_How is this possible? The demon I can imagine but this little girl is matching his killing intent with no effort. Wasn't this girl the shy little Hyuuga brat who refused to hurt a fly? What the hell is going on?"_

The killing intent suddenly stopped and Mizuki breathed in a huge gulp of air. He had been unconsciously holding his breath.

"You know, you really should keep your mouth shut you idiot. I can take whatever insults or hatred people have towards me. I'm used to that. However, the moment you insult my friends, that is the moment that you've signed your own death warrant. And you didn't just insult one of my friends. You insulted and threatened _my_ Hinata-chan. Normally that alone is warrant enough for your instant death, but I have a better idea. Hinata-chan and I are going to destroy your body but we will keep you alive. Then we will let the interrogation and torture department destroy your mind. Ironically me and Ibiki are actually pretty close after I helped him with a prisoner that he couldn't crack. So I'm sure he will be extra nice to you after he hears what you have done to me." Said Naruto in a pitiless voice.

"AS IF TWO ACADEMY STUDENTS COULD POSSIBLY BEAT ME!" screamed Mizuki.

Hinata finally spoke up and grimly said "Underestimating us will be one of the last things you will ever do."

With that Hinata and Naruto stood side by side and made a familiar hand sign.

"**TAJUU KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"**

Smoke filled the forest and when it cleared there stood 500 copies of Naruto and 500 copies of Hinata. Mizuki fell over in fear. The clones pounced. Mizuki's screams could be heard throughout the forest.

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**That's chapter 1 done. Hope everybody likes it. Next chapter will be filled with answers to questions like "How the hell does little miss Hinata have enough chakra to make 500 shadow clones?" It will also have the flashback to the event that happened when Naruto and Hinata were 5. I also assume that most people figured out who their sensei was. It's pretty obvious. But how did Hinata hear him in her head? Find out next time in tossing away the masks.**

**Also please note that daily devotion to the Holy Log is required if you want to ever be a successful ninja. If you do not know where to attend devotion, please contact The Order of the Sacred Log grandmaster Yamato. He will direct you to a suitable place, or create one if you aren't near one. (Mokuton powers activate!) He is the second person to ever be named grandmaster of The Order of the Sacred Log. Does anybody care to guess who the first grandmaster was?**

**Slice N Dicer out…**


	3. Chapter 2: Answers

**(A/N) Chapter 2 Whoooooo! A special thank you to Naruhinalover20 for being my first review ever. I'm starting to get a feel for this whole typing thing and I really like doing it. It just takes up time. Anyways, on with the story!**

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Chapter 2: Answers

With a huge rush of smoke, all of Naruto and Hinata's clones dispelled. Lying bloodied and beaten on the ground was the crippled form of Mizuki. The only way to tell that it was in fact Mizuki was to look at the few spots of his hair that were not covered in blood. Satisfied with a job well done, Naruto and Hinata walked over to Iruka, helped him up and slung him over their shoulders. They started to trudge back to the village in silence when Iruka spoke up.

"So I take it that you two are hiding something rather large?" He asked the young kids.

Taking his free hand and rubbing the back of his head in a nervous gesture, Naruto said "You caught us Iruka-sensei. But we won't tell you until after we tell the old man. But I promise that we will tell you what the old man says we can safely tell you after we get his permission."

"Fine, but before you two go to talk to the hokage, can you help me get to the hospital first? These wounds are not going to heal themselves."

"That's fine Iruka-sensei. Your safety takes priority."

Just then there was the whooshing of air as several members of the ANBU appeared, followed by the hokage himself.

"Ah, Naruto, just the boy I was hoping to see. Would you care to explain why you stole the scroll of sealing and why Iruka has four shuriken in his back?" asked the hokage with an edge in his voice.

"Sure thing old man," several ANBU sweat dropped upon hearing the way he referred to the hokage, "but first we have to get Iruka-sensei to the hospital and if we are going to tell you anything it will be just you, me, and Hinata with several security seals in place." Said Naruto cheerfully.

"Very well. Cat, Boar take Iruka off their hands and get him to the hospital."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." They dutifully replied.

They shifted Iruka onto their shoulders and proceeded to Shunshin away. Freed of their burden, Naruto and Hinata stretched out their backs and got a few satisfying cracks. Hiruzen's eyes widen as they, no, she did so. They shy heir to the Hyuuga clan just cracked her back in public, and in front of the Hokage no less.

Hinata, seeing his expression, giggled and said, "What you really think that I'm that shy little girl who can't stand up to anything. No, I'm so much more than that. But we will talk about that later, when there are seals in place."

Snapping out of his shocked state, the Hokage cleared his throat and said "Well we should hurry up then, I am now very curious as to what you two have to say to me."

With that they quickened their pace to the Hokage tower.

**(Hokage Tower, Hokage's room, 5 minutes later)**

"Alright we are here, so what is it that you-"

"Seals first, questions later old man."

Naruto and Hinata then proceeded to go quickly through several handsigns and said "**Fuinjutsu: Perfect Sound Barrier**" and "**Fuinjutsu: Perfect Sight Barrier.**" The walls of the room glowed with markings as the two jutsus took effect.

The Hokage was flabbergasted. He had just watched two academy students use an A rank fuinjutsu each. "Would you care to explain how you two just used an A ranked jutsu?" The hokage asked in a dangerous voice.

"Sure, our sensei taught it to us for pretty much this exact reason." Replied Naruto.

"You two have a sensei? Who? Everybody knows that private tutoring of academy students is not allowed unless they are within the same clan. If this person is someone in the leaf village they will be severely punished."

The Hokage then noticed something that was a bit off between the two of them, something that he only noticed because he was practically interrogating them with his gaze.

"Also you two can drop the henge. I know that you two are hiding under one."

Hearing this Naruto started clapping and laughed "Wow old man, you really are worthy of the title "God of Shinobi." To be able to see through something that not even the whole Hyuuga clan's Byakugan could see through. You really are amazing old man." Naruto turned to face Hinata and asked "Well Hina-chan, are you ready for the first mask to fall?"

"Hai, Ruto-kun, I believe that we can trust the Hokage with our secrets." Answered Hinata

At this they both made a hand seal and said "Kai" before exploding in a puff of smoke. As the smoke cleared what the Hokage saw left him completely speechless. Standing in front of him were Naruto and Hinata wrapped up in a passionate kiss. But that was not what surprised him. What surprised him was how different they looked. The people kissing in front of him were not 13. They both had the bodies of 18 year olds. Naruto was wearing his Shippuden Jacket unzipped with a tight black shirt that showed off his well-defined muscles. He wore Black pants that were similar to what the ANBU wore along with the standard black ninja shoes. His hair was a little longer than his younger selves' and it made him look like a younger Minato Namikaze. He wore black ANBU gauntlets that had an orange plate instead of the standard grey. Finally, he had a Hitae-ate that had the kanji for fox on it that was secured around his forehead by a long piece of black cloth.

Looking over to Hinata, the Hokage was hard pressed to not get a nosebleed. Only years of training by being a closet pervert allowed him to accomplish this feat. Hinata was wearing dark blue pants that clung nicely to her lower body. She wore similar shoes to Naruto only that hers were white. She also wore a _very_ low cut lavender tank top that revealed a great deal of her bust (which the hokage estimated was easily in the e cup range, pervert powers ACTIVATE!) She also had a necklace that ended in a small red fox with nine tails. To finish off her outfit, she had a Hitae-ate that also had the kanji for fox on it that was secured around her neck by a piece of lavender cloth. But an interesting thing about her is that she had a tattoo of a nine tailed fox that looked like it was laying on the top of her left breast. The fox's tails wrapped along the underside of her breast and continued to the top of her breast. They ended with the white tips of the tails near the center of her breast.

Naruto and Hinata had been kissing all this time while Hiruzen observed their new features, but they finally broke apart to get some much needed air.

Turning to the hokage, Naruto grinned and asked "Any questions?" Which elicited a giggle from Hinata.

"Just one. How?" Answered the old man.

"That's a fun one, since we get to tell you the whole story, and hopefully that will answer any other questions that might come up. Now where to begin. Ah, yes, it was eight years ago on my birthday, October 10th…"

**(Flashback No Jutsu)**

"GET BACK HERE YOU DEMON!"

"DIE YOU DEMON SCUM!"

"YOU'LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE YOU DEMON BASTARD!"

These shouts and similar ones followed Naruto as he raced through the streets of Konoha to try and escape the mob that was chasing him. He turned a corner into an alleyway then suddenly slammed into someone on accident. This allowed the mob to catch up. They picked him up and slammed him against the wall.

"Now that we have you we are going to make you pay for what you have done. Look you just assaulted the Hyuuga heiress and in my opinion that deserves a death sentence. Who knows, maybe the Hyuuga clan will be so grateful that they will pay me for saving her. Anyways now you DIE!"

The man pulled out a knife and was about to thrust it into Naruto's throat when suddenly his arm went limp and he dropped his knife onto his foot. He jumped back and screamed in pain, releasing Naruto. He looked up to see the Hyuuga heiress standing in front on Naruto in a rudimentary Jyuken stance.

"You'll pay for that you little bitch!"

Pulling his knife out of his foot he turned his attention onto Hinata and advanced towards her. She was frozen in fear and couldn't do anything. She turned to ask Naruto for help but he was just standing there with a glazed look in his eyes. She ran over to him and started begging him to help her, but she got no response.

**(Naruto's Mindscape)**

Naruto landed with a large splash into what appeared to be a sewer system. He got up and frowned at his soaked clothes before looking around.

"Where am I?" he asked himself. The last thing he remembered was the cute girl with lavender eyes saving his life and then suddenly he was here.

"**You are in your mind, Kit"** answered a loud and dark voice. Naruto whipped around and saw that he was standing in front of a huge cage. Inside the cage he saw a gigantic fox with nine tails that lazily flicked about.

"My mind? How is that possible? And if so, why the hell do I have a giant furball in here with me?"

"**Giant furball? Is that what you think I am? I ought to destroy you, you insignificant whelp. How dare you insult me! I am the great**-"

"Kyuubi no Kitsune, yah, I know who you are, but that doesn't explain why you are in my mind though. Unless you got sealed in here by someone. If that is what happened, then suddenly my life makes a whole lot more sense."

"**Well the Kit is smarter than he looks, hmmph. Yes you are right, I did get sealed in here by the Yondaime Hokage, and yes I am the sole reason why your life has been miserable. Do you hate me for that? Do you hate me for making your life shit?"**

"Do I hate you? Why would I hate you? My life may not be great but at least I'm not some stuck up prick who thinks that they own the world. So no, I don't hate you, in fact I am glad that you are stuck inside of me because it has taught me humility and made me stronger."

Suddenly there was a loud booming noise that repeatedly reverberated through the sewer. It took Naruto a moment to realize that that noise was actually the Kyuubi laughing.

"**HAHAHAHAHA, you are funny Kit, I'll give you that. And you have spunk too. I like that. How about I make you a deal, kit. Right now in the world, that cute girl who saved your life is about to get skewered. If you remove this god forsaken seal, I'll give you the power to save her life, and I promise not to take over your body or anything like that. Demons can't break promises. All I ask for in return is that you summon me to your world every so often and as an added bonus, I'll train you to become a ninja. How does that sound? You better act quickly before the girl gets impaled!"**

"That deal sounds fine to me. I just have one question."

"**What's that kit?"**

"What is your real name?"

"**My real name? HAHAHAHA, I really like you Kit. It's Kurama. Yours?"**

"Naruto."

With that Naruto jumped up to the seal, grabbed it, but then a hand grabbed his, stopping him.

"Sorry whoever you are, but I have a life I need to save." Saying this, Naruto shook the hand off and ripped the seal completely off.

**(Real World)**

The explosion of chakra that happened could be felt throughout Konoha. People who knew what this chakra was thought that the world was ending. But as quickly as the explosion came, it left. ANBU raced to where the epicenter of the chakra explosion was, and what they found there was a horror scene.

Bits of human bodies were everywhere, and the alleyway was drenched in blood. Amazingly, none of the surrounding buildings where harmed by the explosion. There was no evidence of who had done this since there were no survivors.

Meanwhile, at the field on top of the Yondaime's head, two people were washing their clothes in a stream, trying their best to remove all the blood that had soaked into it.

"Hey, what's your name? I would like to know the name of the cute girl that I saved."

"Ano…its Hinata, Hinata Hyuuga. Ano…are those real?"

Hinata had been watching them for some time and she needed to know if they were real. What was she referring to? Why the nine red with blond tips fox tails and the two similarly colored fox ears that Naruto now had on his body.

"Oh these? Yeah, I guess they are real, I mean I can feel stuff that they touch."

"Can I touch them?" Hinata asked shyly.

"Sure, I don't see why not…"

Hinata Eeeped with joy and pretty much tackled the boy and started rubbing his tails, not caring that both of them were currently naked. As soon as she started rubbing his tails, a deep rumbling noise came out from the base of Naruto's throat. Hearing this noise come from his throat caused him to blush deeply.

"You purr too? You're the best boy ever." Stated Hinata with joy, causing Naruto to blush even deeper. "I only wish that I could have tails like you. How did you even get them?" asked Hinata.

Naruto proceeded to tell Hinata of what happened in his mind and when he finished Hinata was looking at him with stars in her eyes.

"You made a deal with the great Kyuubi no Kitsune! But I guess if that is the only way to get tails then I will never get them." Hinata stated dejectedly.

Suddenly a voice spoke inside Naruto's head and said **"Kit, tell her that there is another way for her to get tails. Ask if she is willing to be marked as your mate. That will transform her like I transformed you when I merged with you. I like this girl. She wasn't bothered at all by the slaughter that happened in front of her and she wants to have tails like you, without caring about the consequences of being seen with tails. She is definitely a keeper and that is the only reason I have brought this up to you. I will relay the drawbacks of doing this through you when you explain this to her." **Said Kurama

"Hinata-chan, Kurama told me to tell you that there is another way to get tails, but it comes with drawbacks."

"There is! Please tell me about this other way!" demanded Hinata.

Naruto proceeded to explain the perks and drawbacks of being marked as a mate to a kitsune hanyou. With that done he said "I'll give you some time to-"

"I'll do it." Hinata said decisively.

"W-What?"

Hinata rolled her lavender eyes and said "I said that I'll do it. Mark me as your mate Naruto-kun. I will never meet another person like you and I want to be with you and like you forever."

"O-ok, if you say so…"

Naruto leaned down in front of Hinata and bit down into her soft flesh right above where her breast would develop. Naruto then injected a great deal of Kurama's chakra into her through the bite and stepped back. He watched in shock as a tattoo of a nine tailed fox was burned onto her skin surrounding the bite mark. Then both of their chakras exploded around them, with Naruto's being orange colored and Hinata's being lavender colored. Their bodies began to feel really weird all of a sudden and they were forced to shut their eyes. Then their chakra finally receded and they opened their eyes. They gasped at what they saw before them. They no longer saw their five year old bodies, and instead saw the bodies of their eighteen year old selves. Then their eighteen year old selves started producing what they produce best. Hormones. And lots of them. Feeling this they saw each other in a completely new light.

"Hina-chan"

"Ruto-kun"

They stepped up to each other and engaged in a very passionate kiss.

**()()()()()()()()()()**

**And done. That was a loooooong chapter for me and it took a while to write. (A/N about my ending notes from my future self: Not really.)  
**

**Anyways, people might complain that Hinata is very Ooc for a five year old girl. But I'm the author and this is how I made her. Remember, her shyness is just a mask, and I will explain the masks in the next chapter.**

**Slice N Dicer is out.**


	4. Chapter 3: The reason behind the masks

**(A/N) Aaaaaaaaaaaannnnnddddd we're back! Took a few hour break from writing and got some food so now I'm ready to go again. I've got six reviews and they are all good. It's amazing how a good review can make someone so happy. And these reviews are making me happy.**

**To clarify a few things: Currently in the flashback Naruto and Hinata are 5 years old. The event that involved Naruto saving Hinata from those bullies that happened in the anime happened in this story when they were both four. Hinata's mom Hitomi died when Hinata was three, soon after the cloud incident. Hinata and Naruto are now both Hanyou and with Naruto marking Hinata as his mate they are technically married by Kitsune law. People may say "married at 5? WTF!" There is nothing wrong with this for two reasons. One is that in this ninja world, people are betrothed even before they are born for political reasons. The mate mark is similar to a betrothal in that while they are technically married from the get go, they have to wait until something important like a wedding normally until it is official. With the mark there is no need for a wedding, as it will become official the moment they well, mate. (It is called a mate mark for a reason you know) The second reason is that for all intents and purposes, Naruto and Hinata are now 18. They may have only lived in the world for 5 years but Kurama has been around for a looooooooooonnnnnggg time. During the merging process he bequeathed the generic knowledge of a standard 18 year old. (He has been observing humans for a long time and knows a lot about them.) However one of the biggest advantages but at the same time one of the worst things about being a Hanyou is that you are stuck at the age 18 forever. You can't die of old age and will not age any further. This is bad since as any good 18 year old person would know, like myself, your life is pretty much dominated by hormones. Joy. So Naruto and Hinata are stuck as hormonal young adults for the rest of their existence. That, and the fact that they are kitsune Hanyous means that Hinata will occasionally go through periods of being in heat. I am definitely going to have fun torturing Naruto with a sex crazed Hinata. However that will not happen until I get the courage I need to write a lemon. I hope this explanation was sufficient.**

**Also, yes Naruhinalover20, Hinata will be similar to RTN Hinata. Not completely the same but similar. In other words, you DO NOT want to get on her bad side, especially in matters regarding Naruto. I'm thinking that at the team assignments, Kiba will be the first to feel her wrath. (I have nothing against Kiba, but his personality will be so easy to manipulate into making Hinata angry.)**

**Anyways, this A/N has gone on too long. Back to the show.**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 3: The reason behind the masks

Disengaging from their first kiss, Naruto and Hinata stood there gasping for much needed air. Their tails without them knowing had wrapped around each other. They stood there for a minute gazing into each other's eyes until Naruto finally broke the silence.

"That was….um…"

"Amazing." Answered Hinata for him.

"Umm…yeah…anyways Kurama never said anything about us getting older, I wonder why we did."

"Maybe you should ask him about it."

"**I know what you're going to ask me, I'm not deaf. And as for your answer, no, I am not sure as to why it happened. But it did happen and I've given you the knowledge to be competent 18 year old humans."** Said Kurama as his voice ran through Naruto's head.

"What was that voice?" asked Hinata.

"You heard him?" replied Naruto with surprise evident in his voice.

"**Yes she can hear me now that she's your mate. Anyways on to more important matters. Like the fact that you are both eighteen with hormones running rampant throughout your bodies. We need to do something about that or else you two will end up doing things together that will be looked down upon, especially if you two choose to henge back into your five year old selves, which is what I would recommend for the time being. So what I propose is that I put a special kitsune henge on you two for as long as you intend to keep your secret from everyone else. This henge will mimic what your bodies would actually go through as they age from your actual age until you release it. It will take little to nothing from your chakra reserves and you won't have to worry about focusing to keep it up. To better hide you two, it will come up with a false persona that you two will be able to use to further keep people from getting suspicious about what you actually are. Does this sound acceptable? **Kurama finally asked.

"I suppose so, but will we be able to revert back to our actual bodies when we are alone?" asked Naruto.

"**I suppose I will let you two do that but since I am in control of it I will only put it down when I know that you two are truly alone with no chance of being interrupted."**

"That's good, I can feel that I will miss having my tails already." Said Hinata.

"**Ok, since that's cleared I will use the jutsu now. Demonic Arts: Kitsune Mask."**

With that said, Naruto and Hinata were engulfed in two big clouds of smoke, and when it cleared they were back to their five year old selves.

"I knew it, I miss my tails already." Said Hinata sadly.

"**Quit complaining. Anyways I told the kit here that I would train him. Since you're his mate, I guess I have to train you too. I will come up with a training schedule for you two to follow tomorrow. In the meantime, you two should probably hurry back home, especially you, vixen. Knowing your family I would say be prepared for the worst, as they won't like the fact that you have been gone so long without them knowing exactly where you are. And remember, just follow the way your mask acts and you will be fine. Also vixen, you don't need to worry about that weak seal that they use on your family anymore. You are immune to such a weak seal. If they try and brand you with it will be recast upon whoever is trying to place it on you."**

"Hai, thank you Kurama-sensei."

With that, Hinata turned and picked up her mostly clean clothes and put them on. Saying one last goodbye to Naruto she left to go home.

"**Well kit, I guess you should go home too. It's been a long day and you need a good rest."**

"Hai, Kurama-sensei."

"_**Hmm…Kurama-sensei. I could get used to this.**_"

**(Flashback no Jutsu, KAI!)**

"And that's how it went old man, we followed the masks that we were given to us and we lived our lives until this point. The only change was that Hina-chan and I would go train with Kurama-sensei every time we were able to get together." Concluded Naruto.

"Hmm…well that is quite the story, but you said you have tails, why don't you currently have them?" asked Hiruzen.

With a giggle, Hinata said "For the same reason that we didn't have them before, we are still under a henge."

Naruto and Hinata nodded to each other and they made a hand sign and said "Kai". Smoke billowed off of them once again and after clearing there stood Naruto and Hinata in their full Hanyou glory.

"Well I must say that certainly is something that I have never seen before. Now onto more recent business, what exactly happened tonight with the scroll of seals? And for that matter why did you two fail the academy test when quite clearly you two are powerful enough to be genin?"

Naruto proceeded to explain that nights events but omitted the fact that he copied the scroll of seals.

"As to why Hina-chan and I failed, we did on purpose so that Mizuki would approach us. We always knew that Mizuki was a power-hungry and manipulative bastard so we figured that he would use downtrodden academy failures to do his dirty work for him. And who better to do it than us? He always thought of me as a demon so he could care less if I died on his little mission and I bet that he was just going to sell Hina-chan to the cloud for some quick cash." Explained Naruto

"That seems like a plausible explanation, but to risk your becoming ninja on capturing one traitor? That is the part that I don't fully understand."

"Well you see old man, if I am to become Hokage someday, I need to be self-sacrificing for the good of the village and its people. If I was able to catch even one traitor for the good of the village, at the cost of my becoming a ninja, I would gladly do it. As would Hina-chan." Explained Naruto once more.

Upon hearing this Hiruzen chuckled and said "The will of fire burns brightly within you two. I believe that you will make a great hokage one day, Naruto."

"Thank you very much old man. Before we go there are two things that I would like to ask for. First is that I be placed on a team with just Hinata and with no sensei, since our sensei lives inside of us."

"That is acceptable as the previous teams had been made without you two in them since you had failed. What is your second request?"

Taking a deep breath Naruto said "Second is that I would like to claim my rightful inheritance of the Namikaze clan estate and all belongings connected to it, as well as any last letters that my mother and father left for me."

Upon hearing this Hiruzen's pipe clattered onto his desk and his jaw dropped with only one word on his lips.

"How?"

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. Cliffhanger no jutsu is ago! How could Naruto have found out about his dad and his inheritance? Find out next time as we cast the Flashback no jutsu once more.**

**This chapter was shorter than the last but I'm getting worn down. I think four chapters in one day is my limit. I will probably write the next chapter tomorrow after my final final exam for the year. Wish me luck!**

**Slice N Dicer**


	5. Chapter 4: Meet the parents

**(A/N) Today is a new day, and I just finished my last final exam, so now it is time to write!**

**It occurs to me that I neglected to describe a few features of what Naruto and Hinata look like in their Hanyou forms. Hinata has five tails that are the dark blue color of her hair. The tips of her tails are lavender colored. Her ears match her tails. Her hairstyle is the same one as the one she has in Shippuden, except that she now has lavender highlights in her hair. She still has lavender colored eyes but they have a fox pupil in the middle of them. Naruto has nine orange tails (or whatever you would describe the color of Kurama's fur in the anime) that have blond tips at the end of them. His ears match his tails. He also has orange highlights in his hair too. His eyes are still blue but they have the fox pupil. Whenever they henge into their younger selves they lose the tails, ears, and highlights, and they look exactly like they did in the first anime. The only difference is that Hinata can't lose the tattoo that signifies the mate mark.**

**I love the reviews that you guys are writing to me, so keep them coming. As most people have probably figured, Hashirama Senju was the first grandmaster of the Order of the Sacred Log. He was also the founder of the order, as he had the power to create logs using his chakra.**

**Anyways, I'm rambling, so I better get on with the story.**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 4: Meet the parents

Examining Hiruzen's shocked expression caused Naruto and Hinata to burst out into laughter. His expression was absolutely priceless.

"Jeez, you should see you face old man!" stated Naruto through his laughter.

**(A/N: For those One Piece fans out there, Hiruzen's face looks like what Enel looked like after he first tried to use El Thor on Luffy when they first got to the Ark Maxim. I love that face, it's hilarious.)**

Regaining control of his expression, Hiruzen cleared his throat and asked "So how do you two know of an SSS-class ranked secret that very few people have the privilege of knowing about?"

"Its simple old man, we both met him." Stated Naruto.

"Impossible. He's been dead since you were born." Said Hiruzen.

"That may be true Hokage-sama, but you know that Yondaime-sama was an absolute genius when it came to seals." Stated Hinata.

"So what are you to saying, that he sealed part of himself away so that he could talk to you when you grew up? That's impossible."

"That's actually exactly what happened old man. My father sealed part of himself into the seal that he used to seal Kurama, as a failsafe."

"A failsafe for what?" asked Hiruzen.

"A failsafe for if the seal was ever to be ripped off or break." Answered Naruto.

"I see, so I take it that you met him when you were about to rip off the seal the first time?"

"Actually no, I was in a rush so I sort of ignored him at that time. He did try to stop me though, but I was too preoccupied with saving Hina-chan's life."

"So when did you meet him if not then?"

"It was a few days after the event and Hina-chan and I met at a secret spot so we could begin our training…"

**(Flashback no Jutsu)**

"**Alright you two, I hope you bought new clothes for your eighteen year old selves, because what you are currently wearing will be ripped to shreds if I turn you back right now." **Kurama's voice echoed through the two mates' minds.

"Hai, Kurama-sensei, we have both bought new clothes for our new bodies. We have also been working on speaking to each other through the mind link that we now have." Replied Hinata in her head.

"**Good, now strip so that we may begin."**

Hinata and Naruto stripped their clothes off and Kurama released the henge. With two loud poofs, Naruto and Hinata were back to their Hanyou selves and they immediately rushed towards each other and kissed deeply. Kurama rolled his metaphorical eyes and thought "_**Humans and their damn hormones…**_"

"**Enough of that you two. Get dressed in your new clothes so that we may begin your training."**

Naruto and Hinata looked a bit depressed but said "Fine, Kurama-sensei."

They both got dressed and admired each other's new outfits. Naruto couldn't help but stare at the large amount of cleavage that Hinata was showing off in her lavender tank top. Hinata on the other hand couldn't help but stare at the muscles that Naruto was showing through his black shirt.

"I know that we have seen each other naked before, but I have to say Hina-chan, you look really damn sexy in that outfit." Stated Naruto, who was still staring at Hinata's cleavage.

"You don't look half-bad yourself, Ruto-kun." Hinata replied teasingly.

"**Alright snap out of it you two. Especially you kit. Ever since she put that shirt on you've been in some sort of trance, staring at your mate's breasts." **Kurama said with annoyance laced in his voice.

"Uhhhhhhhhh…"

"**Kit…"**

"Uhhhhhhhhh…"

"**KIT!"**

"Uhhhhhhhhh…"

"**NARUTO SNAP THE HELL OUT OF IT!" **Kurama roared.

"WHO? WHAT? WHEN? WHERE? HOW?"

"**Finally I have your attention. I'm going to need you to summon me to your world so that we can begin. To perform the summoning jutsu you need a blood sacrifice. So just bite your thumb and then perform the hand signs of boar, dog, bird, monkey, and then ram and slam your palm into the ground. I am a bit unique as I am within you so you won't need to use any chakra to summon me."**

Nodding at Kurama's instructions, Naruto bit his thumb, made the seals, and slammed his palm into the ground.

"**KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!"**

The seals spread across the ground and there was a large puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared there were three people standing there when they hadn't been standing there before.

The first was a tall and well-built man with a pitch black kimono that had an orange flame pattern that wrapped around the kimono. He had long spiky orange hair that reached down to his lower back. **(A/N: Picture Madara's hairstyle but the color of Kurama's fur)** He had six whisker marks, three on each cheek. The most striking thing about him though, was his nine orange tails with white tips that flailed lazily about. If you looked closely at the top of his head, you would see the tips of two fox ears sticking out of his hair. You could tell just by standing around this man that he was extremely powerful and not someone that you would want to mess with. The way he held his body demanded authority and the aura that was coming off of this man would make the weak grovel at his knees. This man was the human form of the great Kyuubi no Kitsune, Kurama.

The second man was a tall, lithe man with a mess of untamable blond hair, and the most piercing blue eyes that anyone had ever seen. He had a leaf Hitae-ate around his forehead and wore the standard jonin outfit. On top of that outfit he wore a long white haori that had a flame pattern skirting the bottom and it had the kanji for Yondaime Hokage printed in black on its back. This man oozed calm confidence and his aura would cause people to relax around him. This man was the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze.

The next person was a woman with long, beautiful red hair and deep violet eyes. She was wearing a solid dark blue kimono with white whirlpool designs along the sleeves and back. She had a very interesting aura. At some points it would be as calm and cool as Minato's, but it had a nasty habit of switching to an aura of dominance that rivaled Kurama's whenever she got angry or if someone said the wrong thing. This woman was Minato's loving wife, Kushina Uzumaki.

"I know that's Kurama sensei by the tails" whispered Hinata to Naruto, "But that person looks like the Yondaime Hokage. I have no clue who the woman is though."

Meanwhile, Kurama was about to speak up to begin their training when Kushina shot him a death glare that made even him shudder.

"**Fine you can talk to him first," **Kurama grumbled, **"But don't take too long. We have a lot of training to do and not too much time to do it."**

Hearing this Kushina and Minato took a step towards Naruto with a smile on their faces.

"Ummm…do we know each other? I can't help but feel that you two are familiar somehow but I can't quite put my finger on it." Asked Naruto.

Kushina suddenly smashed her fist down on Naruto's skull, making a large *CLONG* noise. Hinata was about to jump in and help Naruto when Kushina enveloped Naruto in a large hug and said "Do we know you? Of course we know you. We are your parents-ttebane. I'm your mom, Kushina Uzumaki, and this amazing man is your father, Minato Namikaze."

"M-my p-parents? I have parents?" asked Naruto in shock.

"Of course you have parents, sweety. What did you think that you suddenly popped into existance?" remarked Kushina.

"I have parents." Repeated Naruto. "I have parents!" he repeated again, exitedly.

Suddenly Naruto broke down and started to cry. Hinata immeadiately jumped next to him and started to console him.

"Whats wrong Ruto-kun?" she asked quietly.

"There's nothing wrong Hina-chan. Its just that I'm so happy that I have actual parents. That's something that I've wanted my entire life. And to think that my dad it **the** fourth Hokage. These aren't tears of saddness Hina-chan. These are tears of pure joy." Answered Naruto.

Minato had been happily watching his son, but he decided to speak up. "Naruto, we won't be able to stay here indefinately. Our situation is similar to Kurama's. We sealed a part of ourselves in you as a failsafe incase Kurama tried to break out. I was to appear and stop that from happening, along with remaking the seal. Your mother was to appear when you would try to take control of Kurama's power, she would help you do that. However, niether of us ever expected that you would merge with Kurama, so we have nothing to use the power on since niether of those things happened. So instead you can treat us like a summoning jutsu like Kurama. You can summon us to help you in a fight, or if you want us to just talk or if you need advice. You don't need to fill in any events of your life because we were with you and we watched your life unfold so we know what is going on. However, unlike Kurama, we can not speak with you through our minds since we are not merged into one being. To talk to us either summon us or go down to your mindscape, although I would prefer to be summoned. Now that you know why that we are here, do you two have any questions that you would like us to answer?"

"Yes I do. First is how did you two fall in love?" said Naruto

Blushing deeply, Kushina explained the story of how they fell in love. **(A/N: Just like the anime)**

"Second is why did you seal Kurama into me? I don't hold anything against you two for it and I am actually rather thankful that you two did."

Minato proceeded to explain the night of Naruto's birth with Kurama piping up occasionally whenever he missed a fact.

"Finally, is there anything that I inherit from you two for being your son?"

Minato was thoughtful for a moment and then said "When you turned 18 or got to jonin you were supposed to be told of your heritage and inherit everything that we owned, including the Namikaze clan estate, as well as a seat on the clan council. However you are technically 18 now and I don't see why you shoudn't get it now."

"**If I may say so Minato, in my opinion we should give him his inheritance when these two decide that it is time to drop their masks. If a five year old kid just walked into the council and demanded that he was the son of the legendary Yellow Flash and that he wanted his inheritance, the council would die of laughter. So I suggest that he waits until he is powerful enough to back up his claim before he runs in. You two can help me train them and you could even teach him that jutsu that you use that you copied from the Tailed Beast Ball and based it upon. Or even better, you could teach him the jutsu that earned you your moniker "The Yellow Flash". How does that sound?"**

"That sounds like a great idea. I will begin teaching them the Rasengan immeadiately. However I will not teach them the Hiraishin no Jutsu until they reach genin. If anyone ever saw an academy student use that jutsu, they would freak out." Replied Minato.

"**Your saying that people won't freak out when they see a genin using Hiraishin? You must of flashed around to many times if you think that! You created that jutsu and only taught it to your three most trusted aides, and even they can't do it near to the extent that you do. Face it, people are going to freak if they see him use it regardless of what age he is. How about you teach it to him, but he is only to use it as an absolute last resort."**

"Fine, that's reasonable. Now we should get to training. The first thing I'm going to teach you is the **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**. With both of your insane chakra reserves, you should get it down in no time, and it will speed up your training speed by 1000% due to the memory retention of shadow clones." Said Minato.

With that they finally began training.

**(Flashback no Jutsu KAI!)**

"And that old man, is how I learned of my parents. We have decided to discard our masks now so we have come to get my inheritence ." concluded Naruto.

"Hmmph…It seems as if I have no choice. Here are the letters that your parents left me to give you. All of the money that you now have is locked in the Namikaze clan vault, in the Namikaze compound. I assume you know where it is?" asked Hiruzen.

"Ummmmm…" replied Naruto.

"I will take him there, Hokage-sama. It is quite close to the Hyuuga compound. However I do not intend on returning to the Hyuuga compound except to gather the little amout of valuables that I have there." Said Hinata.

"Very well, off you two go. And you two can tell Iruka everything. Just be sure to use those seals that you have used here."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Replied Hinata.

"But wait! Isn't there supposed to be some sort of key that lets us into the compound or something?" Naruto asked.

"Normally there would be, but your dad never used the main door to get into the compound. He would always just flash in and flash out. However I'm sure he did something that would let you in. His seal mastery was unparelled." Replied Hiruzen.

"Fine, I guess we'll just have to stop by the gate and see whats there." Said Naruto.

With that, they deactivated the security seals and left to go to the compound.

**(Five Minutes Later, Namikaze Compound)**

Naruto and Hinata were standing in front of the huge, solid metal gate that was the entrance to the Namikaze compound. It looked like an ordinary gate except for the fact that it had no handles.

"Hmmm…there aren't any handles so I guess that there must be some sort of seal to allow entry. Hina-chan can you check for the presense of any seals? I don't want to touch the door and have it blow up in my face." Remarked Naruto.

"Sure Ruto-kun. **Byakugan**!...Ruto-kun, there are a multitude of complex seals covering the door, and there is a spherical barrier surrounding the entire clan compound. From the limited understanding of seals that I have, I would say that this door reacts to chakra, but I don't know in what way it will react."

"Hmm…if it reacts to chakra then the seals should show up if I do this…" said Naruto as he placed his finger on the door and injected some of his chakra into the door. In an instant the door was covered in a huge amount of very complex seals.

"Hmm…I see. This matrix is so simple, yet so complex at the same time. The Yondaime really was an absolute sealing genius. Hmm…I think I've figured out what to do, but first let me mark your chakra as allowed for entry Hina-chan."

Naruto took Hinata's hand and held his own up to the door, and then flowed his chakra threw the door. The seals glowed for a moment and then completely disappeared. Naruto stood back and smirked.

"Ano…now what Ruto-kun?"

"Now we walk in, Hina-chan."

Naruto then grabbed Hinata's hand and dragged her straight through the metal door. Once on the other side Naruto looked at Hinata and chuckled at Hinata's completely confused face.

"Ano…what just happened?" asked the confused Hinata.

"We walked through the door Hina-chan."

"But the door was solid metal."

"I told you that my father was a sealing genius didn't I? Seals are an amazing thing, and its sad that fuinjutsu is becoming a lost art."

"I understand that now Ruto-kun, but I'm still getting used to the fact that I just was dragged through a solid object."

"If you think that a phasing seal is weird, you probably shouldn't delve much further into fuinjutsu than you already have. I've seen some really weird experimental stuff, like a seal that turns somebody's head into a cabbage."

Hinata sweat dropped and said "I think I'm going to stick to knowing the basics of fuinjutsu now…anyways did you notice the root member who was spying on us?"

"Yeah I did," replied Naruto, "And I wanted him to report to his boss so that a council meeting would be held. I think it would be fun if we crashed it, don't you Hina-chan?"

"Ooooohh that will be so much fun to reveal our true selves to the whole council at once. We should go in under a kitsune illusion so no one notices that we are there, before interupting a serious part of the meeting. I can only imagine how angry Hiashi will be when we show up." Replied Hinata gleefully.

Naruto proceeded to make a shadow clone and ordered it to find out when the meeting would be held. The clone henged into a bird and flew off. Hinata then made five clones and told them to gather her valuables from her room in the Hyuuga estate. They put themselves under a kitsune illusion that made them invisible and left to fulfil their task.

"Okay now that the buisness is done, lets check out our new home Hina-chan." Said Naruto as they entered the main compound.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. I would have finished this chapter earlier but I wasn't able to finish writing the chapter before my mom came to pick me up from college. Summer break WOOOOO! This is the only chapter that I'm going to write today but tommorow I'm pretty much free all day so I should be able to get two or three chapters out.**

**Next chapter I will try my best to explain what the compound looks like and we will get to watch Hinata and Naruto crash the council meeting. That's going to be fun to write, I've had so many ideas of the council crashing floating through my head ever since I thought up this fanfic.**

**Until next time.**

**Slice N Dicer**

**P.S.: Now that I'm back home, I finally get to play storm 3 again. Both Hinata and part 1 Hinata are broken if you can use their awakenings right. I love that game, and I am seriously thinking about going through the effort of getting all the achievements for it. The only ones I'm missing are the get S ranked on the boss battles.**


	6. Chapter 5: Namikaze Compound and council

**(A/N) It's that time again, the time for a new chapter! It's a beautiful day out and I'm typing out on my deck, so I'm in a good mood. You guys keep sending me great reviews and I love them, so keep it up.**

**Before I get started with the chapter, let me respond to a few of the reviews:**

**Ash 76020: "Update soon." That's all you said. I will take that as an "I love your story and cannot wait to see what happens next so please update your story as soon as possible." If I translated those two words correctly, then I'm very happy with your review.**

**NeoHummel: I'm very glad that someone knew of the reference I made there. His face at that moment was hilarious, so I thought I would through it into my story for any One Piece fans out there.**

**Oniix: This story may seem familiar because as most people probably do, I influenced it with various elements of Hanyou stories that I have read before. I will admit that I took the idea of making Naruto and Hinata turn older when they become Hanyou from a fanfic that I read. I can't remember the name of it off the top of my head but if I come across it again I will tell everybody its name.**

**Flashohol: I'm glad that you think that the premise is good. I for one absolutely love Hanyou Naruhina stories. As for the forced aging, I did it so that I wouldn't have to deal with the Akatsuki yet, while at the same time have Naruto and Hinata at an age where a more physical romance is acceptable. I also love the other jinchuriki, and I plan on having Naruto and Hinata meet them at a later point. From what I understand, the Akatsuki had captured at least Fu by time part II began, and she is my favorite of the jinchuriki along with Yugito. I understand that forcing their ages means no younger life character development, but it also means that I have full access to their 18 year old selves' character development.**

**As for all of you that have been asking for longer chapters, please understand that I like to type through an entire chapter in one sitting without breaks, and if I did make a 10,000 word chapter, I would be sitting and typing on my laptop for like 5 hours straight. Typing does take a while you know, and I am still getting used to it, as this is my first fanfic.**

**And again I've been rambling for too long, so on with the chapter.**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 5: Namikaze Compound and Council part 1

As Naruto and Hinata entered the main compound, the first thing they noticed was the huge amount of dust. The second thing that they noticed was a small table with a scroll on it in the middle of the room. Naruto walked over to the table and picked up the scroll, blew off the dust and carefully unrolled it. He then read aloud to Hinata:

_Naruto,_

_If you are reading this then that means that we are dead and that you have been notified of your lineage and inheritance. While we are sorry that we couldn't be there for you, I hope you can understand why we couldn't be there and why you were not told of your lineage from the start. We do however want you to know that we loved you and will always love you even if we aren't there physically._

_When you do decide to take up the Namikaze family name, I hope you will do so proudly. If and when you do decide to marry someone, we want to make sure that you choose someone who brings out the best in both of you. And for whatever reason if that person is Kushina's best friend Hitomi Hyuuga's daughter, bring up clan act 31.b if you are ever forced to defend her in a council meeting. If you bring that up and she agrees, you both will be untouchable by both the Hyuugas and those idiots on the civilian council. I understand that they will probably try even still, especially that prick Hiashi, but I know all of the laws of Konoha by heart, and there are no loopholes to 31.b. I hope that you eventually do decide to continue the Namikaze bloodline, and I also understand that the civilian council will probably try to enact the Clan Restoration Act upon you. You may choose that you want multiple wives or you may not. The council will probably try to force you into choosing multiple wives but in reality they have no choice in the matter as it is up to the clan head of the endangered clan to choose whether to follow the act or not. Since you are my only son, and I am probably dead, that automatically makes you the clan head and gives you a seat on the clan council._

_Anyways, enough of the boring clan stuff, we have left you the entirety of our jutsu library for you to view at your pleasure, and the Namikaze family fortune is sealed within the vault under the compound, along with a few "special" things._

_I hope that you will enjoy living at your new home and wish you luck in your life._

_With love,_

_Minato Namikaze_

_Kushina Uzumaki_

_P.S. I understand that it has probably been a long time since anybody has entered the compound and that it is probably quite dusty. I have taken the liberty of sealing in a small dust cleaning jutsu within this scroll that will activate whenever this scroll is closed. So you can keep this scroll as a portable dust cleaner._

After he finished reading the scroll, Naruto rolled it up and there was a bright flash of light. When the flash died down, there was not a speck of dust in sight within the entire compound.

"And that's a "_small_" dust cleaning jutsu?" asked Naruto aloud in amazement, "I think that a big one would clean the dust out of the entirety of Konoha."

Hinata was thoughtful for a moment and then said "That jutsu sort of looked like a space-time jutsu. In other words I think that the dust was transported somewhere, not just poofed out of existence."

"Hmm...I guess your right Hina-chan. But where would my dad transport that much dust to?"

**(Meanwhile at the Hyuuga compound, Hiashi's study)**

Hiashi had just left his study to go to a clan meeting about the fact that Hinata still wasn't home, when out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of light from under the door. Curious he opened the door and was greeted with a wall of thirteen year old dust that quickly tried to escape through the open door. He slammed the door shut to prevent the rush of dust and called to a branch member that was walking by.

"Get a maid or thirty to clean my study while I am at the meeting. It had better be clean by time I'm done with my meeting."

"Hai, Hiashi-sama. If I may ask, why does your study need to be cleaned? It was just cleaned yesterday, sir."

"You will see when you clean it. Now I have a meeting to attend to and I will not hesitate to say that it was you who held me here if I am late. So do you have any more stupid questions?"

"No sir…"

"Good"

With that said Hiashi walked off to the clan meeting, thinking "_When I find out who did this there will be hell to pay."_

**(Back at the Namikaze compound)**

"That's a good question Ruto-kun, but the dust is not our problem anymore, so don't worry about it." Said Hinata sweetly.

"If you say so Hina-chan. Now let's go and explore our new home. But first let's dispel our henge. We can be ourselves in here."

Naruto and Hinata dispelled their henge and then started to wander through the estate. Since they were in the main compound they started with the master bedroom. They then checked out the master bathroom which was connected to the bedroom. Naruto was overjoyed at the size of the bath and that he would now get to shower with consistently hot water. Hinata was thinking devious thoughts of how she could make it look like an accident while walking in on a bathing Naruto. After exiting the bathroom into the main bedroom again, they encountered the clones that Hinata had sent to retrieve her belongings. They had stopped by Naruto's apartment as well and grabbed the things that they deemed necessary for Naruto to survive (so no instant ramen) as well as her precious items. The stop at Naruto's was unplanned so one of the clones had made three more clones to help **(A/N: a clone cloning? Its cloneception!)** The originals helped the clones put away the stuff before the clones dispelled. Naruto and Hinata then left and continued their walk. They stopped by the well-stocked dojo before Hinata said that she was getting tired. It was 2 A.M. at that point. Just then Naruto received the memories of the clone he had sent out earlier.

"Apparently, the council meeting has been scheduled for ten o'clock tomorrow morning. I see that you are tired Hina-chan, and I'm pretty tired too, so let's head back to the bedroom and get some rest. We can explore the rest of this place tomorrow."

"M-kay Ruto-kun." Responded Hinata tiredly with a large yawn following.

They headed back to the master bedroom, and Hinata kicked off her shoes and flopped onto the bed. In an instant she was asleep. Naruto just chuckled at his mate's actions and took his time to wash up a little before removing his clothes down to his boxers. Walking up to the bed, he noticed that Hinata was completely sprawled out on top of the bed. He gently lifted up Hinata before using his tails to pull back the covers and placed her on the bed. He then laid next to her before pulling the covers back over them. He muttered "Sweet dreams, my vixen" before drifting into the land of sleep.

**(The next day, 8:00 A.M.)**

Hinata woke up to find that while they were sleeping, their tails had intertwined with each other, and that she wouldn't be able to get up without Naruto's help with untangling their tails. Hinata then kissed Naruto gently on the lips and whispered "Ruto-kun wake up. It seems we have a slight problem."

Naruto, who had been awakened by Hinata's kiss, rubbed his eyes and said "I could get used to waking up like that. What's the problem Hina-chan?"

Hinata giggled and said "Well Ruto-kun, it seems that our tails don't want either of us to leave the bed and get ready this morning."

"Can't we just stay in bed then? I haven't had that good of a sleep in well, ever."

"Sorry Ruto-kun, but we have to crash the council today, remember?"

Grumbling a little, Naruto said "Fine, fine. Let's get ourselves untangled and washed up, then we can go visit the kitchen and see if there is anything to eat."

With a little bit of difficulty and a little blushing, Naruto and Hinata were able to untangle their tails. Hinata nearly got a nosebleed upon seeing Naruto in his boxers, before leaving to shower. She tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to keep the dirty thoughts of Naruto in his boxers out of her head while she showered. Naruto walked off into one of the guest rooms and used the shower in there. Hinata meanwhile was quite glad that she was in a shower because she got quite the nosebleed when she used her Byakugan to check on Naruto and saw him showering. She stared for a while before snapping to her senses and finishing her shower.

Naruto finished his shower and headed back to the master bedroom, before knocking on the bathroom door and asking "Hina-chan are you done in there?"

"Sure, come in Ruto-kun" was her response.

Naruto opened the door and was treated to the site of Hinata wrapped in only a towel. Naruto noticed this and froze like a deer in headlights.

Finally finding his voice he said "Ummm...Hina-chan? I thought you said that you were done?"

Giggling, Hinata said "What's the matter Ruto-kun? Do you not like what you see?"

"N-no! It's not that! It's just-"

"I'm wearing enough for when it's just you around," Hinata then dropped her voice to a low, sultry tone and continued, "_In fact, no clothes at all is enough clothes with just you around_."

Naruto froze again and slipped into a trance that wasn't broken until Hinata had gotten the rest of her clothes on and said "Come on Ruto-kun, let's see what is in the kitchen."

"Uh…right…" was his response as Hinata dragged him towards the kitchen.

They found that the kitchen had several labeled pantries with a variety of choices. Curious, Hinata opened the one that said "strawberries" and found that the pantry was empty except for a small sealing matrix on the bottom. Even more curious now, Hinata injected some of her chakra into the seal, and to her pleasant surprise, a completely fresh strawberry poofed into existence with a small cloud of smoke.

Taking a bite out of the strawberry, Hinata said "This is amazing Ruto-kun! This strawberry must be at least thirteen years old and yet it tastes completely fresh!" She then eyed several pantry's labels and set to work. Within 15 minutes she had made a batch of piping hot cinnamon rolls and a huge bowl of homemade ramen and set them out on the table for them to eat.

"Now Ruto-kun, you have to understand that today is special and that I will not make you ramen for breakfast very often. Do you understand?" said Hinata as she poured them both a bowl of ramen.

"Aww…but Hina-chan, ramen is a gift from the gods, just like the kawarimi was a gift from the sacred log." Complained Naruto.

"If you say so Ruto-kun, but I won't give you your ramen until we come to an understanding." She said, holding Naruto's bowl away from him.

"Okay, fine you win Hina-chan." Replied Naruto in defeat.

"Good boy, here you go."

She gave the bowl to Naruto who then sucked it down in record time. And then another. And then another.

"Hinata, I have to honestly say that your homemade ramen rivals Ichiraku's and your cinnamon buns could quickly become one of my new favorite foods."

"I'm flattered that you would think that my ramen is as good as theirs Ruto-kun, but I did spend years getting the recipe just right so that you would like it. I am also glad that you like my cinnamon buns, since they are my favorite food and I will make them quite often."

They spent the rest of their meal chatting about various ideas for pranks. They then cleaned up their dishes and checked the time. It was 9:45 so they headed out to the gate, henged into their thirteen year old selves, and then put on a kitsune illusion that rendered themselves invisible before heading out to the hokage tower.

**(A/N: If I were evil, I would end this chapter right here, but I said I would get to the council in the last chapter, so the story goes on. And hey, you people wanted longer chapters right?)**

**(Hokage tower, council meeting room, 10:00 A.M.)**

The council meeting room was a large room with a long, circular table in the middle of it. **(A/N: Think the gokage summit meeting table, but a lot bigger) **Currently sitting at the table on one side were the clan heads of the Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi, Aburame, Inuzuka, and Hyuuga clans. On the other side of the table were the members of the civilian council along with the hokage's councilors and Danzo. Sitting in between the two sides was the hokage.

The Hokage cleared his throat to silence the quiet muttering of the civilian council and said "So what is the reason that you have called a council meeting this time?"

A councilor spoke up and said "Well, Hokage-sama, it has come to our attention that the dem-" he was silenced by the look Hiruzen gave him "-err…_Uzumaki boy _and the Hyuuga heiress were seen entering the Namikaze clan compound last night. We would like to know why they were seen doing so."

Upon hearing of his daughter Hiashi perked up and said "Yes, I would very much like to know why my _daughter_ was seen last night with that boy. Especially since she never came home from the academy yesterday."

The silence and tension that followed was intense. The hokage opened his mouth to speak when a cute giggle rang through the air. Instantly, the shinobi side was on alert, with kunai at the ready. Hiashi had his Byakugan activated and scanned the room. He didn't see anything.

"There's no one there." Stated Hiashi.

Suddenly another giggle rang out and a feminine voice was heard "Poor Hiashi, he thinks that his weak Byakugan would be able to see us."

A male voice then said "Don't you think that you should treat him with a little more respect, after all he is your fa—MMMPPPHHH"

The center of the room shimmered and revealed a thirteen year old Hinata passionately kissing Naruto. Hiashi was outraged. The civilian side was in chaos. The shinobi side just looked confused. The Hokage was calm but had a grin on his face.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. Sorry guys, but I spent waaaaaaaay longer on the events in the Namikaze compound than I thought I would. But I liked those events and I think I put a nice amount of Naruhina fluff in it. Overall, I'm satisfied. If I had included the events of the council that I want to have happen, I would probably double this chapter's 3000 word count. I just can't type for that long strait and I would rather get something up for you guys to read than have nothing. Even still, this chapter holds the record for word count so far, so as you can see, my chapters are steadily getting longer.**

**So until next time.**

**Slice N Dicer**


	7. Chapter 6: Counseling the council

**(A/N) I'm baaaaaaaaack. The weather today is not near as pleasant as it was yesterday, so I'm stuck inside. However, I did just get back from seeing the new Star Trek movie, and it was pretty damn awesome. Spock reminds me of Shino for some reason. For all of those Naruto theme song fans out there, I would like to inform you that I-tunes has the majority of the Naruto opening and closing songs available to buy. My personal favorite is Hero's Come Back, which is Shippuden's first opening. It's a great song. Anyways, it would appear that I have whipped you guys into a frenzy with the cliffhanger that I left off at. Most of the reviews that I got were of people saying that they couldn't wait for the next chapter. You guys don't know how happy it makes me to see that you guys like my story that much. So keep reviewing! I was even told that my story had "Flames of Youth". I don't know if I should be happy or shudder at that.**

**I would like to encourage people to read Lord Farsight's "Crack Collection". It's a great collection of hilarious one-shots. I am also happy to say that I was the one who sort of challenged him with his latest installment in it. It involves the Holy Log, and that alone should be enough to get people to read it.**

**I would also like to encourage people to read TwiceMarked's "This Time as a Namikaze". Of all of the Naruto fanfics that I have read, (which is quite the number) I have to say that this story is my favorite. In parts it's depressing, in others serious, and in the majority, absolutely hilarious. You should all check it out.**

**And as always, I've been rambling too long. So on with the story!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 6: Counseling the Council

To say that Hiashi was outraged would be a huge understatement. He was beyond pissed. First his failure of a daughter didn't come home after the academy. Then he learned that she had actually failed the graduation exam. A Hyuuga failing the academy graduation exam was unheard of. They were the elite of the elite. They were all-seeing. They were the Hyuuga, the most powerful clan in all of Konoha. But to hear that his daughter had failed the exam made the normally controlled head of the Hyuuga lose his cool. Next, his study was magically filled with an insane amount of dust. And then he got called to a clan meeting, only to learn that his daughter had been seen entering an unenterable place with the demon boy. That bit of info had certainly gotten his attention. But that was when the two in question had suddenly appeared in the middle of a very well-guarded room, the very room that they were meeting in. And to top it all off, his daughter had appeared by silencing the demon with a very large kiss. Not only that, but Hiashi was pretty sure that his daughter had insulted his Byakugan. Hiashi was very, very angry, and after he got this all sorted out, someone was going to feel his wrath. Most likely his daughter.

"Hinata," Hiashi said to the still kissing couple in a deathly cold voice, "You are to separate from that _thing_ at once and return to your room immediately. You will wait there until I have decided your very severe punishment."

Hinata broke away from kissing Naruto, much to the latter's disappointment, and turned to her father and said "I don't think I will, _Father_." She said the word "father" with a huge amount of venom in her voice. She turned back to Naruto and said "You were saying that I should treat that man with more respect because he is my father, right Ruto-kun? Well I only give respect to the people who have earned it from me. That list is pretty small so far, and includes you, your parents, Kurama-sensei, and Hokage-sama." Turning back to Hiashi, Hinata said "I will not be returning to the Hyuuga compound _father_, because I have a new home now. I also call upon clan act 31.b."

At this Hiruzen spoke up and said "Clan act 31.b is a very rarely used law. It states that a heir or in this case heiress may choose to hand off her title and all associated privileges to someone else in the same clan and at the same time denounce their own name and have another clan give them their name."

"That is correct Hokage-sama, I choose to give my title of Hyuuga heiress to my sister Hanabi. I also choose to take up residence and the name of the-"

Hinata was cut off by Hiashi stating "I know of Clan act 31.b, and I also know of its only weakness. That is that in order to join the new clan, you must have written permission from the entirety of the clan that you are trying to join. If even one member of the clan does not want you, then you will not be able to join said clan. So what clan have you tried to convince to let your pathetic self join them?"

Hinata upon hearing this just giggled and said "It wasn't hard to convince this clan to let me join. I choose to join the Namikaze clan. I have the required signatures right here on this scroll." She took a scroll out and tossed it to the still grinning Hokage.

The Hokage took the scroll out and looked over its one signature. He nodded and said "The signature checks out. Hinata is no longer to be known as Hinata Hyuuga, and is now to be known as Hinata Namikaze."

"That's impossible. The Namikaze have been extinct since the Yondaime died. Let me see that scroll." Hiashi demanded.

Shrugging, the Hokage tossed Hiashi the scroll. He unrolled it and read it. He got to the signature and dropped the scroll. It read _Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze_. Shaking in anger he said "You mean to say that this _demon_ is the Yondaime's son? That is impossible."

The Hokage laughed and said "The civilian council has all the proof you need. In fact the very reason that this meeting was called is all the proof you need. Naruto and Hinata were seen entering the Namikaze compound. A compound which is only enterable by those of Namikaze blood and those that they have chosen to be allowed to enter. If anyone else tries they will meet a rather painful experience."

Upon hearing this Hiashi shut up and the civilian council was again in uproar. One pink-haired banshee's mother in particular said "If he truly is the last of the Namikaze, I propose that we enact the Clan Restoration Act upon him. I propose that my dau-"

"No." Naruto cut her off, "I will not partake of the CRA."

"You don't have a choice _boy._"

"Actually I do. It is up to the clan head to decide if a member partakes of the CRA. And ever since my father died, I was and still am the new clan head of the Namikaze clan. And I say no. Hina-chan is my one and only mate." Responded Naruto, shutting her up.

Shikaku, upon hearing this raised an eyebrow and his head off the desk and said "That is an interesting choice of words Naruto. Care to explain why you chose the word mate?"

Naruto turned to Hinata and winked at her. Getting the signal, she took off the heavy jacket that she was wearing and revealed that she was wearing a low-cut magenta tank-top **(A/N: What can I say, I like the idea of Hinata in tank-tops)** that showed off a great amount of her fox tattoo (and cleavage). Turning back to Shikaku, he said "I don't know Shikaku-san, can you explain why I used the word mate? If you're anything like your son, you should be able to figure it out."

Shikaku scanned Hinata for a moment, and rested his eyes on her tattoo. Suddenly he raised his eyebrows, muttered "Troublesome" and put his head back on the desk.

Shibi Aburame then chose to speak up for the first time and said "It is logical to assume that Shikaku has indeed constituted the reason for your peculiar choice of words in his astute mind. However, not all of have his caliber of intelligence, and it appears that said reason for your word choice is to "troublesome" for Shikaku to endeavor to explain to us all. So I ask you Naruto, would you care to explain what exactly Shikaku has come to realize that is so "troublesome"?" **(A/N: I got to say writing that part right there was a whole lot of fun thinking of the words that Shibi should use.)**

Naruto grinned and said "In fewer words, do you mean to say that Shikaku was able to figure it out but the rest of you weren't and you would like an explanation?" Shibi nodded and Naruto continued "Very well. That tattoo that Hina-chan has is no ordinary tattoo. It is a mate mark. I marked Hina-chan as my mate when we were both five years old. As for why Shikaku-san thinks this is troublesome, I think this should explain." Naruto nodded to Hinata and they both made a hand sign and said "Kai". They were both engulfed in a cloud of smoke and when it cleared, they were standing there in their full Hanyou forms.

At this Hiashi finally found his voice and said "So you corrupted my daughter? You truly are a demon. We should kill the boy and see if there is a way to reverse the process on my daughter." The civilian council also muttered in agreement with Hiashi.

Hinata giggled and said "We are half-demons technically. And while you could think of it as corruption, I prefer to think that Ruto-kun _enhanced _me. There are so many benefits to being like this, it truly is a wonderful thing that he did for me. Oh, and there is no way to revert the process, so don't try."

Hiashi upon hearing this started making the hand signs for the caged bird seal under the desk until Hinata cut him off by saying "And stop making the signs for that stupid seal under your desk. It won't work. Or you could continue if you fancy the idea of that seal on your head. I certainly won't stop you then."

Hiashi stopped making the seals and said "Fine. Then we will just kill you both. I'll start with Hinata since she is a weak failure."

Hiashi started to stand up when Naruto said "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Hina-chan is stronger than me."

Hinata pouted and said "You're never going to let that go, are you Ruto-kun? Just because I can do _this_-"Hinata proceeded to hold her finger up and formed a rasengan on it. She then expanded the rasengan to the size of Jiraiya's massive rasengan, **(the rasengan he used against the Preta path of Pain) **before shrinking it down to the size of a pea, before dispelling it. "-doesn't mean that I'm stronger than you. After all, your biggest rasengan is bigger than my biggest, so I prefer to think that we are of equal strength."

Naruto grinned and said "Fine, fine Hina-chan. We are equal in strength, if you say so. I just can't help but agree with you when you make such a cute face like that."

Hinata brightened up, giggled and said "I know that Ruto-kun, that's why I did that. I just have to remind you who is in control of our relationship every so often, so you don't get a big head. Anyways, I think that all of the topics that we wanted to be discussed have been covered, so I think we can head on home. I'm feeling pretty hungry, so how about I make us some lunch when we get there? But where are my manners to the council? How about you leave them a parting gift of your guests so that they won't get bored? What do you say Ruto-kun?"

Hiruzen upon hearing this started to panic a little and said "I don't think that that will be necessary you two. I really don't want to deal with the paperwork that will inevitably get loaded onto my desk if you do that. So please whatever you do, just don't do what I think that you are saying Naruto should do."

Upon seeing Hiruzen's begging look, Naruto laughed and said "How about I cut you a deal old man. If I tell you the secret that will solve the issue of the paperwork, then I can summon them and let them do what they want. I promise you that they won't kill anyone. Only maim. So what do you say?"

Hiruzen brightened up upon hearing his offer and said "That sounds acceptable, so what is the answer to the Hokage's bane?"

Naruto laughed again and said "Two words old man. Shadow clones."

Hiruzen's eyes widened with realization and he started pounding his head against the desk repeatedly saying "Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid…."

Naruto laughed and Hinata giggled at his reaction. Naruto then went through some hand seals and bit his thumb, before slamming his palm against the ground and shouting "**KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU**". The room was engulfed in a cloud of smoke, which cleared to reveal a pissed off Kushina being held back by a slightly irritated Minato, and a grinning Kurama.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. I know that this chapter is a bit short, but I couldn't resist giving you guys another cliffhanger. Also I still need to think of how Kushina is going to maim the council, and I like giving you guys at least something to read while I do that. Be sure to check out the stories I mentioned in the beginning. You can find them easily if you go to my profile and scroll down to the favorites section. Also be sure to check out any of the other stories that I have favorite. They are all Naruhina, so don't worry about that.**

**Until next time,**

**Slice N Dicer**


	8. Chapter 7: Kushina vs Council

**(A/N) And were back once again. I'm writing this pretty early in the morning, but that shouldn't stop my creative genius. Yesterday I actually went back and read the seven chapters of my own story with the eyes of a reader, not the writer. I must say, I'm a better writer than I give myself credit for. Also I only counted a total of four grammatical errors in the entire story. I'm rather impressed with myself at that, since I never proofread my chapters. I just get them done and immediately submit them to fanfiction.**

**You guys absolutely loved/hated the cliffhanger I left you with last time. I love cliffhangers, as they keep people on their toes and waiting for the next chapter impatiently. Fortunately, I never leave you guys waiting too long since I have an at least one chapter per day thing going on. You're welcome. Anyways the reviews I got from you guys really left me the impression that you are going to enjoy seeing Kushina destroy the council. I'm certainly going to enjoy writing it, so I hope that what you guys read will quench your thirst for council bashing.**

**And as always, I've been rambling. Maybe I was born a ramblin' man. Anyways, on with the show.**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 7: Kushina vs Council

"Now remember you guys, I said to the old man that you could maim, but not kill. Let me revise that. Since you have Kurama-sensei here with you, you may kill, but make sure they are alive in the end. Okay?" affirmed Naruto as he and Hinata walked out the door, placing themselves in their thirteen year old henge as they went.

With Naruto and Hinata gone, the civilian council was seriously starting to sweat at what they had just heard his say.

"Minato, sweety, please let me go. I only want to hurt them a _little_ _bit_." Said Kushina as she struggled against Minato's strong grip.

"Now, now Kushina, maybe we should hear any excuses that the council has for their actions before we do anything violent." Said Minato as he held her back.

An ill-fortuned council member then chose to speak up and said "Excuses, hah! What sort of excuse do we need? That boy is a demon, and now the girl is one too. They should be sentenced to death immeadiately." The other council members and Hiashi nodded in agreement. Bad Idea.

Minato upon hearing this finally snapped. They insulted his son and his daughter-in-law for the last time. So he did the worst thing that he could possibly do to the council. He released his grip on Kushina. Instantly chakra chains flew from Kushina's back, pinning the council members to their chairs. Kurama signaled Kushina to hold on for a moment as he pulled out something from his black kimono. It was an object not often seen in the Narutoverse. It was a cell phone. He punched a few numbers into the phone and held it to his head as it rang.

"**Hey, Shinigami, how are you doing? The kit told me that I could kill some people but that they had to stay alive in the end. So do I have your permission to do my kill-revive-rekill thing that I love to do? You can play with them as much as you want while their dead, they really deserve it. I've got permission? Great. See you later, maybe we can go on a killing spree for old time's sakes later.**" Said Kurama to his best friend in his phone before hanging up and putting his phone back into his kimono. Looking back to the impatiently waiting Kushina, he nodded and said "**Please continue Kushina. Their screams will be music to my ears**." **(A/N: Yes, the Shinigami is Kurama's best friend. They met after one particularly nasty slaughter, and became fast friends. The favor Kurama called in is a pretty common one, he likes to kill people, then revive them, then kill them again. I got that idea from another fanfic.)**

"Alright Kurama, I've decided that I'm going to summon _her_. They deserve it, and since I don't have to worry about them staying dead, she'll get all the exercise that she wants. After she has her fun, then it's my turn, and after I'm done, then you can do anything else that you want to do to them." Said Kushina.

Minato heard what she said and flew through some hand seals and shouted "**Fuinjutsu: Liquid Sealing Barrier**".

Hiruzen was confused at why Minato did this and asked him why he did. Minato responded by saying "Do you want the Hokage tower to be soaked through with blood?"

Upon hearing this, several of the civilian council members pissed themselves, but they couldn't help but wonder who "her" was. That's when Kushina flew through some hand signs, bit her thumb, slammed her palm against the ground and yelled "**KUCHIYOSE: ONI NEKO**!"

Now those of you who understand a little Japanese will know that she said "Summoning: Demon Cat". While most people would think that she meant to summon Matatabi, the Nibi Bijuu, they would be wrong.

While she could in fact summon Matatabi with Yugito's permission, what Kushina was summoning was worse.

Far worse.

When the smoke cleared, standing there on its haunches was the cat known as the "Genin's Bane".

Standing there was the fire daimyo's wife's cat, Tora.

Upon seeing this the council members just laughed and said "That's the best you can do? A pathetic little kitty? We were worried for nothing!"

Kushina just grinned and said "Tora, sic 'em."

Tora let out a vicious snarl and flew at the nearest council member. Claws cleaved effortlessly through flesh and blood splattered everywhere. Screams filled the room and Tora leapt to her next victim. The total carnage that ensued was absolutely horrific. Tora actually succeeded in killing every member of the civilian council. She also noticed that something was off with the old man sitting at the end of the bench, so she jumped him. She ripped through the seals that Danzo had placed on his arm and scratched out each and every one of Danzo's implanted sharingan eyes. Kurama upon seeing those eyes was instantly enraged and pretty much warped to him and snapped his neck with a resounding crack. Kurama decided that Naruto wouldn't mind if Danzo stayed dead. Tora was satisfied with the exercise that she got and ran out the door, thankful for the chance to escape from her horrible owner. Hiruzen realized that he would have to send some genin out on a mission to catch her, but he resolved to pay the genin double what he had been paying them previously from now on to whoever accepted that mission. He was also extremely glad that Minato had put up his seals when he did. Who knew that those civilian council members could produce that much blood? It was obvious to him that they were in fact currently dead, when suddenly they all gasped for air as their hearts started pumping again. They looked around with absolute terror in their eyes. Obviously the Shinigami had been doing his job of "having fun" with them extremely well before he decided to send them back.

Now it was Kushina's turn for some fun. She smirked evilly as she sent some more chakra chains out and impaled each of the council members and Hiashi **(A/N: Did you think I forgot about Hiashi? I did not, it's just Tora knew that she wouldn't be able to take on Hiashi without at least being slightly injured, so she didn't bother with attacking him) **through their stomachs, arms, and legs, pinning them each against the wall. As their blood flowed it was absorbed into Minato's seal and disappeared. Kushina then walked up to the first council member. She grabbed his arms and tore them out of his sockets. She then grabbed his hands and broke each finger, one at a time. Next she kicked out his knee sockets and smashed his femur with her foot. Then, she pummeled his chest, shattering his ribs. Finally to end it, she grabbed his head and twisted it snapping his neck, killing him. She repeated this exact process for each of the council members and Hiashi. Finally satisfied with her work, she released her chains and took a step back.

Once they had revived again, it was Kurama's turn. What he did to them was simple, yet extremely effective and painful. He used a special jutsu called "**Kitsune arts: Slow Burning Flame**". This lit a small amount of fire onto each of the council members and Hiashi and slowly, and very painfully, spread across their entire bodies. Satisfied once the jutsu was used, he stood back and watched them flail around as the flames spread across their bodies until they each could take it no more, and they died just from the sheer sensation of the all-consuming pain that wracked their bodies. This effectively cauterized their multiple wounds, stopping the bleeding of their bodies. The flames went out as soon as their victims died.

Kurama turned to Minato, now the only remaining member of the summoned group who hadn't done anything to the council, and asked "**Well I'm done. Is there anything that you would like to do before we head home?**"

Minato responded by saying "I think that we have done enough, but there is one thing that I would like to do to Hiashi when he gets revived."

They were revived a moment later and Minato walked over to Hiashi who was trying to stand up and delivered a fearsome punch to Hiashi's jaw, knocking him out. Satisfied, Minato turned and said "That's for trying to put an insult to the fine art of fuinjutsu onto my daughter-in-law."

With that done Minato nodded to Kushina and they both disappeared in a puff of smoke. Kurama turned to the Hokage and said "**They will all be fine, all of their broken bones were mended when I revived them, and my flames cauterized their wounds. They will just be in a fair amount of pain for the next month.**" With that said he poofed away in a cloud of smoke.

The shinobi side of the council were absolutely stunned speechless as to what they had just watch unfold in front of them. They all silently resolved to tell their kids to NEVER get on Naruto or Hinata's bad side.

The hokage cleared his throat to get everyone's attention and said "Well that was certainly something. You are all dismissed, I have paperwork to do and there is no reason for any of us to stay here longer."

With that said the Hokage and the shinobi side, minus Hiashi, shunshined away in a cloud of leaves, leaving the civilian council and Hiashi to wallow in their well-deserved pain.

(Meanwhile at the Namikaze Compound)

Naruto and Hinata had just finished eating their lunch and were now sitting on the kitchen table, with Hinata straddling Naruto, and were engaged in a very passionate make-out session. Suddenly Kurama's voice popped up in both of their heads and said "**We are back in your mind. I don't think that you will have to worry about the council ever again. If anyone deserves to be called a demon after today, it is your mother, Naruto. The things that she did to them definitely have my stamp of approval on it. They should be calling her the "Red-haired Demon" from now on.**"

Naruto and Hinata heard this but mostly ignored it as they continued their make-out session.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's that. A bit on the short side but I didn't want to include anything other than the council in this chapter, other than Naruto and Hinata learning that they were done. It would offset the violent overtone of the chapter. But I think that you guys should be satisfied with what I did to the council. Also I chose to kill off Danzo early on. While I honestly like Danzo, the whole "Danzo is evil and will try to take Naruto to make him into the ultimate weapon" thing is a bit of an overused plot point in fanfics. So I killed him off. And that's that. He will not be coming back. Ever. However his root members will try to enter the Namikaze compound to get back at Naruto, which will be the main point of the Omake that will be following each of the chapters starting with the next one. It will be called "The Wheel of Torture". Can anyone guess why it's called that? Here's a hint: It has something to do with the giant metal door that leads into the Namikaze compound.**

**And as always, feel free to leave a review, I love them.**

**Until next time,**

**Slice N Dicer**


	9. Chapter 8: Compound Secrets

**(A/N) It's that time again! The time for the next chapter in "Tossing away the masks". But first let me respond to a few people who were worried about whether this will be a harem or not and go on a little rant. This story WILL NOT BE A HAREM. (Rant begins) I do not like harems simple because it makes no sense for Naruto to ever get one. The only person who deserves to be with Naruto is Hinata. She is the only one who acknowledged Naruto's personality flaws, and saw past them to see the person who he really is, BEFORE he actually became powerful. No one else (who is female) was able to do that and they all saw him as a failure, until he became powerful, and then what do you know, suddenly he is a cool guy. Damn superficial bastards. Hinata, while acknowledging the fact that Naruto was indeed a failure, saw past seeing only that, and saw that underneath was an actual person with a never-give-up attitude that turned him into, as she called him, "A proud failure". It was this that lead to Hinata falling in love with him and sharing his nindo, which is a verbal pronunciation of that never-give-up attitude. No other female in the story has that attitude, and that is one of the reasons why I truly think that those two are meant for each other. The only way Hinata would EVER let someone share HER Naruto-kun, would be if that person could prove to her that they loved Naruto to the extent that she does. And the only person that I can think that would grow to love Naruto in the way Hinata does is Fem Kyuubi. After all, if you were stuck in someone of the opposite sex's gut for all of their life, I'm sure that you could fall in love with them. That is why I will only truly accept stories that are Naruhina or Naruhinafemkyuubi. A small exception to this was one story that was Naruhinahina, which I found to be quite amusing since the other Hinata was her RTN form. It's a pity that that story was only a two-shot (For those of you who want to read it, it is called "Who in the world is Menma Uzumaki?").**

**On to canon Naruto's supposed obsession with Sakura. I am completely happy to say that I think Kishimoto is ending that, if chapter 469 was anything to go by. And that was a while ago, and with Hinata becoming more and more involved in the manga, it would appear that Kishimoto has decided to listen to his fans (I think he finally listened to what the character polls were saying, that Hinata is the most popular female character in Naruto) and might actually make Naruhina a reality after the war is over. Or at least that's what I hope. Also it appears that he might actually try to redeem Sasuke, if the events of chapter 627 are anything to go by. While my views on Sasuke are in conflict, since I think that while Sasuke is pretty cool, his personality makes him a total bastard, if Kishimoto does actually make Sasuke a good guy once again, then Naruhina is even more likely, since Sakura (who I still think is a useless fangirl, don't even get me started on why…if you do that will be a whole other rant. Actually I might do that rant next chapter because I REALLY don't like Sakura, especially if she is being compared to Hinata) will definitely follow Sasuke around and be the fangirl that she is, most likely causing Naruto that Sakura is definitely not for him and causing him to fall into Hinata's waiting arms.**

**And that's the end to my rant. It felt really good to get that off my chest, and I think I will do my Hinata vs Sakura rant at the start of next chapter (For those of you who are fans of Sakura being bashed, I'm sure that you will enjoy it, although a lot of it will be of how awesome Hinata is).**

**Anyways, today I was a ranting man, but it is finally time to get on with the actual story.**

**Hajime!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 8: Compound Secrets

Naruto and Hinata had just finished their make-out session on the kitchen table and were now deciding what they wanted to do with the day. Team assignments were not going to be given out until the next day, so they had the whole day to do whatever they wanted. While they did know what team that they were going to be put on, they decided that they would show up anyways so that they could reveal their true selves to their classmates. Besides they were curious as to what the other teams would be. It would be good knowledge to have in case they ever had to work with another team.

"So what do you want to do today Hina-chan?" asked Naruto.

Hinata was thoughtful for a moment before she answered "Well Ruto-kun, I was thinking that since we didn't have time last night to finish exploring, we could do that today. Also I think that we should visit the vault so that we can fill our wallets, along with seeing what your father meant in his letter when he said "A few special things". That has me really curious."

Naruto grinned and said "Well we could always summon him and ask him ourselves, but where's the fun in that?"

"Exactly Ruto-kun, so let's save the vault for last and take our time exploring the compound." Replied Hinata.

With that they set off. They first went back out front to where the main gate was since they never really got the chance to inspect the opening area since when they first came in it was dark and when they left this morning they were in a rush to get to the council meeting. They were pleasantly surprised with the state of the grounds. Normally, if you left grounds like this uncared for 13 years, you would find that the grass would have grown wild and there would be weeds everywhere. What Naruto and Hinata found was what appeared to be freshly cut grass and instead of weeds everywhere, there were beautiful wildflowers growing all over the place.

"I'm pleasantly surprised with the state of our lawn, Hina-chan. I guess my dad must have somehow invented a seal that keeps the grass cut at a certain length." Commented Naruto.

"I guess that is plausible, but I for one am really pleased with all of these beautiful wildflowers that have grown. I don't think that I have the heart to remove them. I am also amazed that I cannot see even one weed growing anywhere." Said Hinata.

"In that case we won't do anything to the lawn. We will let the wildflowers grow as they please, and the seal will keep our grass at a manageable length. So it seems that we will never have to do any lawn maintenance. I guess we just got lucky with the lack of weeds though."

They then continued walking along the perimeter of the compound, observing that the state of the lawn seemed to be the same not just at the front of the compound, but everywhere. As they followed the compound wall along, the wall stopped and gave way to a mountain. Naruto and Hinata noticed an entrance to a cave that went inside the mountain. They entered it and walked along a passageway that was lit by what appeared to be seals giving off a pleasant blue light. The passageway opened up to reveal a huge cavern that had several steaming hot springs in it on one side, and on the other had a large waterfall that spilled from a crevice in the cave wall into a large crystal clear lake of pure water. The room was lit by the same seals that emitted the blue light, and the light reflected off the surface of the lake turning the whole room a brilliant shade of aquamarine.

"This is absolutely amazing Ruto-kun, to think that such a place of natural beauty existed in a clan compound is unheard of." Said Hinata in awe.

"Your right Hina-chan, and it's ours to share with each other. No one else but us gets to experience this place. It will be our own private haven." Said Naruto.

At this Hinata turned to him and enveloped him in a huge kiss, which he returned with great fervor. They broke apart only because they were both running out of air. When they did so, Hinata noticed a passageway that was not the way that they had come in. Walking over to it with Naruto in tow, she noticed a carving on the wall next to the entrance of the passageway. She gasped when she realized what it was.

"Ruto-kun, this carving is a map of a series of tunnels and passageways that lead everywhere in the village. There is even one that leads straight into the Hokage tower." Said Hinata in amazement.

"Your right Hina-chan." Said Naruto. Then grinning mischievously, he said "Think of all the pranks that we could get away with if we utilize these tunnels."

Hinata giggled and said "You're right Ruto-kun. Konoha won't know what hit it! But that is something for another day. We should head back and finish checking out the compound before it gets late. We still have plenty we haven't seen."

They then headed back out the way that they came in and continued following the perimeter. When they got to the back of the compound they noticed that the area they were in was the garden. They explored the garden a little further and were delighted to find that it was filled with all sorts of fruits and vegetables on one side, and on the other it was filled with the most beautiful flowers that they had ever seen. Naruto picked one flower and gave it to Hinata and was rewarded with another passionate kiss. When they broke apart Hinata took the flower she had been given and put it in her hair.

Naruto upon seeing this said "Wow Hinata, you look even more beautiful with that flower in your hair." He was rewarded with another kiss, and Hinata mentally noted to herself that she would come by the garden every day for a different flower to put in her hair.

They left the garden and continued along to the only side of the compound that they hadn't been and found a large pool with several benches and lounge chairs situated around it. Seeing this Naruto commented "Why did my family need to get a pool when they had a lake that they could go to?"

Hinata giggled and said "I think it's so that in case your family ever had any guests they didn't have to reveal a secret place while still allowing their guests to be able to relax in the water. Also the lake doesn't have any sunlight so girls wouldn't be able to lay in the sun and tan."

They then proceeded to reach the front of the compound again and entered the main building. The first place that they visited inside was the clan's library. To say that it was big would be an understatement. The library was absolutely MASSIVE. There were thousands of scrolls, and they were all neatly alphabetized and separated by their content type. The jutsu section alone was three-fourths of the library's total contents. Naruto spoke up and said "I don't think that I'd be able to even _read_ through half of the jutsu scrolls in my lifetime, let alone master the jutsus in them."

Hinata once again giggled and said "You're forgetting one thing Ruto-kun. We are both Hanyous so we have all the time in the world. Also we both know the shadow clone jutsu so that will definitely speed up the process."

Naruto just stood there dumbly and said "Oh yeah, right. How did I forget about that?"

Hinata just giggled and they moved on to the next section of the house, but not before leaving some shadow clones to start on learning the new jutsus.

The next place was the study, which was a small room with a large desk in the middle. In the corner of the room were blank scrolls of all sorts of sizes. Seeing these, Naruto remembered something he had previously forgotten and said "Hey, I can finally copy the scroll of seals with those."

Naruto then took a scroll that was around the size of the scroll of seals and took out the piece of paper that he had used on the scroll of seals. Placing the paper on the blank scroll, he injected some chakra into it and the kanji on the paper disappeared, indicating that the scroll was successfully copied. Naruto and Hinata both made some shadow clones and set them to work examining the scroll. The originals left the clones to their work and left the study to move on.

First they stopped by the kitchen where Hinata made them dinner consisting of curry and rice. It was around 8:00 P.M. and they hadn't eaten since lunch, so they were pretty hungry. They quickly ate before getting up and moving on after doing the dishes.

They briefly examined the guest rooms, which were surprisingly of higher class than they thought they would be, and moved on to the armory. The armory was well stocked with not only kunai and shuriken, but also all sorts of interesting weapons like swords, senbon, kusarigamas (the weapon Hanzo uses), spears, and naginatas. What was even more impressive was the shear amount of paper bombs that the place held. There were all sorts of creative verities other than the original explosive kind too. Naruto and Hinata both mentally noted that they would try and learn a weapon style to complement their own abilities.

Finally it was time for them to check out the clan vault, so they walked down the staircase that lead to the basement of the compound. They walked down the path that was lit by what seemed to be ever-burning torchs **(A/N: I love seals because I can do pretty much anything I want with them. I'll be sure to include some of the more "creative" seals in later chapters. You'll also see a lot of the creative ones in the Omakes) **until they reached a dead end. The wall however wasn't like the normal stone wall that the rest of the basement was. It was jet black and made of pure obsidian.

Naruto was thoughtful for a moment and said "I figure that this is the vault. I also assume that it is equipped with a phasing seal just like the main gate, but I can only assume that the supplementary protective seals are a lot worse if you set them off than what the main gate would do to you. However we shouldn't have that problem."

With that said he grabbed Hinata's hand and injected his chakra into the wall, marking Hinata as a person that could enter the vault. Still holding hands, they stepped through the wall. **(A/N: This is the perfect point for a cliffhanger, but I am not going to torture you guys this time)**

Inside was a large, well lit room that was covered in a sea of Ryo. There was literally enough money in the room to last Hinata and Naruto through their immortal lives. But that was not what caught Naruto and Hinata's attention. What they were drawn to was a weapon rack in the corner of the room. On it were some very unique weapons. First was a katana that glowed softly blue in the light that had a swirl for a tsuba, and a small red whirlpool on the bottom of the hilt. Next was a kusarigama that had a soft lavender handle and a pitch black blade that seemed to absorb all of the light that was around it. Then there was two butterfly daggers with wavy blades of what appeared to be pure crystal that light reflected off of, causing rainbows to appear on nearby surfaces.**(A/N For those of you who have played Soul Caliber II, the shape of the butterfly daggers is the shape of Taki's ultimate weapon, Kris Naga)** Finally, there were a pair of knuckle blades **(A/N: Asuma's weapons) **that were bright orange, that seems to be glowing orange with power. Naruto couldn't help but be drawn towards the sword and the knuckle blades, while Hinata was drawn towards the kusarigama and the butterfly daggers. They picked up said weapons, and they felt extremely comfortable in their hands. They exchanged weapons, but each other's weapons just didn't feel as natural in their hands. **(A/N: If anyone else tried to pick up these particular weapons, then they will receive a nasty surprise. I will explain that later though)** They gave each other's weapons back and they resolved that they would each become masters of their weapons. Naruto strapped the sword onto his back and put the knuckle blades into his pouch while Hinata strapped the kusarigama to her back and the butterfly daggers to her hips, **(A/N: Again, think Taki) **before they refilled their wallets with some of the money that was lying around and they headed out back through the door and back to the master bedroom. They kissed each other goodnight before getting ready to go to bed and hopping into their bed, falling asleep to the sound of each other's breathing.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. I hope you guys like the weapons I thought up of, but I need your guys' help. These weapons need names and powers. Nothing too overpowered though. So if you guys think of anything good, leave a review and if I like it, I might use it, and I will be sure to give you credit if you want. You guys will have several chapters time to leave me a response, since they won't be discovering their weapon's abilities for a little while. Also I have another question for you guys. Should I let Sasuke get branded with the cursed seal or not? I have not decided yet and I thought I would let you decide whether he gets the seal or not. Either way, he will still be the egotistical bastard that he is, as you will see next chapter during the team assignments. Finally, I'm still contemplating on whether I should have Naruto and Hinata be backup for team 7's wave mission. So your input on that is appreciated.**

**But we are not done just yet, we still have an Omake to do! I hope you guys enjoy it!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Omake: The wheel of torture part 1

If you said that the root members were angry about Danzo's death then you would be wrong. They were trained by that very man to feel no emotions, and as such, they felt none when Danzo died. However, they did feel the need to get revenge on the person who they believed to be the cause of their master's death.

They wanted revenge on Naruto.

So they gathered a few members and went to the Namikaze compound at night. They were currently trying to figure out how to get past the iron door. They had seen Naruto drag Hinata straight through the door the previous night, and they were wondering how he did that. That was when one of the younger root members had the bright idea of injecting his chakra into the door.

Bad idea.

He injected his chakra, and suddenly the seals on the door lit up, and the kanji for various things started to cycle on the door. Finally it stopped. The kanji on the door read "Legend of Zelda chickens".

The root members were completely confused as to why the door said this.

That was then they heard it.

The horrifying sound of an ungodly amount of angry chickens flying straight at them.

Many root members lost their lives that night. The rest of them regained one of their emotions that they had previously lost. Fear. Fear of what? Fear of chickens.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that wraps up my first Omake chapter. I hope you guys liked it. Feel free to suggest what I should torture the root members with. Try to make it something from a videogame or anime that is creatively painful.**

**And that's all for this chapter.**

**Until next time.**

**Slice N Dicer**


	10. Chapter 9: Team Assignments

**(A/N) And were back once again. The last chapter was a bit of a filler, since nothing really important happened. However, the cavern with the lake in it will have two very important Naruhina scenes in it later in the story, as that is their special place. Thanks to all of the suggestions on what to torture the root members with, and keep them up, as that will be an ongoing thing. Also please help me with weapon abilities and names, as while I could easily think of abilities that would fit the weapons, I like seeing what you guys can come up with. I know names are a bit hard, but it would make my life sooooo much easier if I didn't have to come up with them. I've never really been good at coming up with names. To make it easier, come up with a name that reflects the abilities of the weapon, and then use a translator to convert the names into Japanese, and hopefully they will sound good.**

**Also last chapter I said I would rant on Hinata vs Sakura, and rant I will, so on with that:**

**First and foremost, Sakura was and will always be a useless fangirl. I don't think that she did anything useful in the first series ever, other than follow Sasuke around, and beat up Naruto. In shippuden, she has gained Tsunade's chakra enhanced strength and some of her medical abilities, but she is nothing compared to Tsunade herself for one simple reason. She lacks conviction. Tsunade has put her life on the line multiple times ever since Naruto snapped her out of her funk, and continues to do so. She also completely surpasses Sakura's medical abilities with her Mitotic Regeneration Jutsu, and Strength of a Hundred technique. Using the later, she not only survived being completely bisected by Madara's Susano'o, but she told Katsuya to drag her over to the other fallen Kage so that she could begin healing them before herself. If that doesn't shout "Badass" then I don't know what does. Sakura didn't even have the conviction necessary to even harm her precious Sasuke-kun, even when he was obviously trying to kill her. She is only currently alive because Naruto is a boss and took a hit from the very own poisoned kunai that she had prepared for the express reason of killing Sasuke. Also, Sakura lied to herself and Naruto when she told Naruto that she loved him, which Naruto quickly picked up on and shot her down (good job Naruto, now if you'll start calling Hinata "Hinata-chan" then I will be extremely happy), by telling her that he doesn't like it when people lie to themselves. In my opinion, Sakura's character really hasn't gone through any development, other than the merging of her main personality with inner Sakura, and that only resulted in Naruto getting beat up even more often (hashtag stop the bullying). The only time in which Sakura was remotely cool, was during the time when she fought Sasori. And even then, I give most of the credit to Chiyo, who laid down her life to save both Sakura and Gaara. Not only that, but her puppetry skills are badass.**

**Hinata on the other hand is awesome. She would absolutely destroy Sakura in a fight (it's been proven that Jyuken beets brute strength via Neji and Lee), and she has conviction to spare. She was willing to die for Naruto **_**twice**_**, and both times she would actually have if it were not for outside circumstances. The first time was obviously when she fought Pain, and she would have been killed if it were not for Naruto thinking that she had actually died, causing him to go six-tails. This alone I think is a bit special, since this was the first time that Naruto resorted to using the Kyuubi's power out of despair instead of anger, which is what caused him to lose it every other time. (I think that this is special since it points to the fact that Hinata is very special to him, as he could not bear to be in a world where she was dead, resulting in him almost ripping the seal. After all, he did not go kyuubi when he learned that Jiriaya died, and he was the closest thing to a father that he had ever had) The next time when she was willing to die for him is when Obito used the wood style: cutting technique on him when he had no time to dodge. Hinata was prepared to use her own body as a shield to protect her Naruto, and she would have died from that if Neji did not also have the same conviction, although for different reasons, and jumped in front of her to protect the both of them (its official, Neji was awesome). This along with Obito's words caused Naruto to despair, and he was only brought out of by Hinata restating their conviction to never go back on their words, and with Kurama giving a few choice words as well (in my opinion, most of the credit goes to Hinata, not Kurama). Hinata's character has grown considerably through the series, with her starting off as a shy, stuttering girl who admired Naruto from afar, to her becoming a beautiful woman who has proudly declared her love for Naruto as she went to lay down her life to save him, and has resolved to herself that she would stop following Naruto, and would walk beside him, hand in hand, as equals. She has actually achieved this, and took his hand when she got him out of his funk, and became equals with him when he transferred Kurama's chakra to her when they grabbed hands. It is Hinata's undying conviction and devotion to Naruto, and her amazing fighting abilities that makes her superior to Sakura. And on a more personal note, she is damn hot (Although part one Hinata was completely adorable, especially whenever she interacted with Naruto, *cough* Bikochu arc *cough*. Where do you think I got my awesome profile picture?)**

**Anyways, enough ranting, I think you guys get my point by now. So on with the story!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 9: Team assignments

Hinata woke up the next morning to find that once again, her tails had entwined with Naruto's. So she kissed him to wake him up, and they untangled their tails and got out of bed to get ready for the day. After they were all washed up, they headed down to the kitchen to get some breakfast. Hinata cooked some more cinnamon buns to go with the cereal that they each ate. After breakfast, they cleaned up their dishes and went back to the bedroom where they had left their new weapons. They strapped on their weapons and left the main building.

While they were walking to the main gate, Hinata piped up and said "Hey Ruto-kun, how about we use some of the passageways in the cave to get to the academy? I'm sure that there will be one that leads there."

"That's a great idea Hina-chan. It will be interesting to see where it pops out."

With that said they headed to the cave where they followed the passage until they reached the cavern. Once there, they stopped and examined the map that was carved on the wall. Once they memorized the way they would need to take to get to the academy, they left and started following the winding passageways. In what felt like no time at all, they reached a wall that appeared to be made of the same material that the academy building was. They also noticed that the wall had a phasing seal on it. They also noticed that the seal had the kanji of Naruto and Hinata's names on it.

"I guess marking you as a member of the Namikaze clan on the front door also marked you on the phasing seals that these passageways lead to. That's convenient." Said Naruto.

Hinata nodded and then activated her Byakugan to check if the coast was clear for them to walk through without them being seen. It was, and they walked through to find themselves in the middle of a hallway in the academy. They walked towards their classroom, ignoring any confused looks that people gave them considering that they didn't bother to henge when they left. It was currently 8:30, and they would be receiving their assignments at 9:00. When they got to their room, they both took a deep breath and opened the door.

Surprisingly, all of the other graduating students had gotten to the classroom before them. They all turned their heads to the sound of the door opening, and were completely shocked when they saw who entered. Their eyes followed Naruto and Hinata as the couple made their way to the back of the room, where Naruto sat down in an empty seat, and Hinata sat down on top of him, straddling him legs. She then took him in a deep kiss, completely ignoring the stares that had followed them when they entered the room.

Kiba was the first to recover from shock, and he got up and walked up to Naruto and Hinata. Suprisingly, what he said had nothing to do with their unsual appearances. He said "Hey loser, what do you think you are doing here? This meeting is for those who passed. Also you're kissing MY girl!"

Not even breaking their deep kiss, Hinata snaked one of her tails around Kiba's neck before picking him up and slamming him four inches deep into the concrete wall. Finally breaking their kiss, Hinata turned her head to Kiba, giggled and said "Silly Kiba, we know that this is a meeting for those who passed, which is exactly why we are here. Or did you not notice the leaf headbands around our arms? Also, I am not _your_ girl. I am Ruto-kun's girl and he is _my _boy." With that said, Hinata engaged in another make-out session with Naruto.

Seeing this, Sasuke got up and walked over to them. He then said to Hinata "You're strong. I have decided that you will be the one to have the honor of bearing the next generation of Uchiha." All of Sasuke's fangirls squealed in protest as he said this.

This time it was Naruto's tail that found itself wrapped around someone's neck. He picked up Sasuke, strangled him a little, and then slammed him eight inches into the wall next to Kiba.

This time Hinata broke their kiss and stood up in front of Sasuke and Kiba. She then said "You two are absolute idiots. Especially you Sasuke. Did you not hear me when I said that I was Naruto's and only Naruto's girl? Or did you think that didn't apply to you since you are a "great" Uchiha? Let me get one thing strait. You will never try, or even think about taking me away from my Ruto-kun. Since this is only a warning, I will let you off without using the full power of my technique."

With that said she dropped into a Jyuken stance and yelled "**EIGHT TRIGRAMS: CASTRATION PALM**" **(A/N: A very special thanks to Lord Farsight for allowing me to use what could easily be considered Hinata's ultimate Jyuken technique here. I have told you all before, and I will now tell you again, go check out his "Crack Collection", it's hilarious) **before slamming her palm into each boys crotch. Every boy in the room winced as she did this. Sasuke and Kiba were so far stuck into the wall that they couldn't even bend over in pain. So they did the next best thing. They fainted into blissful unconsciousness.

Hinata then turned to Naruto, pouted and said "Did you have to slam Sasuke so far into the wall? Now everybody will think that you are stronger than me."

Naruto quickly apologized by saying "I'm so sorry Hina-chan, I was just so angry that he inferred that he would have sex with you that I lost some control. I know that you are stronger-"He faulted under Hinata's deepened pout "-errrr… are as strong as me."

Hinata brightened up and said "Apology accepted Ruto-kun. As for Sasuke having sex with me, that would never happen, and I doubt that he would even be able to get me to moan with that tiny dick of his. You however, I'm sure will be getting me to scream your name in no time with what you have under your pants, as soon as I decide it's a good time to ravish you." Naruto turned bright red upon hearing this.

Hinata then straddled Naruto again and locked him in another deep kiss. The class was completely silent after this.

Ten minutes later Iruka walked in shouting "ALL RIGHT EVERYBODY SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!" He then realized that the entire class was already in their seats and already quiet. He then noticed the still forms of Kiba and Sasuke stuck in the walls, and the forms of Naruto and Hinata kissing in the back of the room.

It was then that a certain pink haired banshee decided to speak up and screeched "Iruka-sensei, Naruto-baka and Hinata assaulted Sasuke-kun!"

Naruto and Hinata both flinched at the volume of the banshee's voice, and Iruka sighed and said "Let me guess, first Kiba walked over to Naruto and Hinata, then he probably yelled something about them not supposed to be here. I also guess that Naruto and Hinata were doing what they are currently doing and Kiba saw fit to say something along the lines that Hinata was his. I also assume that upon hearing that, Hinata proceeded to slam him into the wall. Next I assume Sasuke saw Hinata's display of strength and tried to claim her as his own. That probably ticked Naruto off and resulted in Sasuke being slammed into the wall. Am I right?"

Naruto broke his kiss, chuckled and said "Exactly right Iruka-sensei. Only afterwards, Hinata gave them a few choice before using a low powered Eight Trigrams: Castration Palm on them, knocking them out."

The banshee shrieked again "See Iruka-sensei, they assaulted Sasuke-kun. You should punish them!"

Naruto and Hinata flinched again, and Naruto said "Hasn't your mom told you by now not to get on our bad sides?" Sakura nodded and Naruto continued "Then why are you still trying to go against us? We were provoked and rightfully defended our honor. Also would you like to know why you mom is currently in a huge amount of pain?" Sakura again nodded and Naruto said "Your mother was one of the idiotic members of the civilian council who tried to have us killed when we showed our true selves before them, even after I revealed my heritage. Therefore, we set them in their place. You may or may not know this, but when I was born, the Kyuubi was sealed within me. Therefore-"

Naruto was cut off by Sakura screeching "Then you're a demon!"

Naruto just grinned and continued "I'll take that as a compliment. Hina-chan and I are half-demons, or Hanyou. But for you to infer that we are the actual things is quite flattering. Anyways, I merged with the Kyuubi when I was five, and also marked Hina-chan as my mate at that time, transforming her. So what I did to the council was I summoned the Kyuubi. He told me that he unleashed a slow-burning flame that slowly engulfed the council members' bodies. I'm told that that will probably be the most painful thing that they will ever experience in their pathetic lives. So now the entire council is on our side. I am also sure that each of the shinobi clan heads told their kids to not get on our bad sides, and as to why Kiba ignored that, I have no idea. But Hina-chan put him in his place, and Sasuke got what he deserved for trying to take her away from me."

At this the entire room was silenced. Then, interestingly enough it was Shikimaru who spoke up and said "You mentioned your heritage? What do you mean by that?"

Naruto again grinned and said "I know you Shikamaru. You're the laziest person who has ever existed, but also probably the smartest. So you tell me Shikamaru, who am I related to? If you guess right I'll give you permission to enter our estate as a guest. No one has ever had that privilege before. I would actually like for you to come in, since Hina-chan and I have found quite a few scrolls that would really help with not only your families' shadow jutsus, but also the Nara clan medicine as well. So who am I related to?"

Shikamaru studied Naruto for a moment, locked his eyes on his blonde hair and blue eyes, then widened his own eyes to the size of plates, before muttering "You're _his _son aren't you. That has to be the most troublesome thing to have ever existed."

Naruto laughed and said "It seems you figured it out. Congratulations Shikimaru. As promised you will be the first one to ever be a guest in our estate. We will figure out a time later."

The rest of the class was completely confused as to what had just happened, so Iruka decided to clear it up.

"I think I will start the team assignments now, as that will clear the confusion. I will start with the special team of team 15. The members will be Naruto and Hinata _Namikaze_, under the jonin sensei of Anko Mitarashi."

The rest of the class's eyes widened in surprise at this revelation, while Naruto and Hinata were sort of surprised that they had gotten a sensei when they had requested not to, but they hid the surprise from their faces.

Iruka continued saying "Onto the normal teams. Team 7 will be Sasuke Uchiha, Kiba Inuzuka, and Sakura Haruno under Kakashi Hatake. Team 8 will be Shino Aburame, the transfer student Fu of Takigakure, and the transfer student Yugito Nii of Kumogakure under the jonin sensei Kurenai Yuhi. **(A/N: Shino is one lucky guy right? Don't worry, he will only be in a relationship with Fu, and both Fu and Yugito are 13)**

Naruto upon hearing this whispered to Hinata "We need to talk with that team sometime later. Those two are like what I was before I merged."

"Finally, we have team 10 that will be composed of Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka, under Asuma Sarutobi."

Just then a pair of kunai flew through the window (which wasn't open by the way) and stuck into the wall, in the process hanging a banner that said "Anko Mitarashi is here!" There was a poof of smoke in the middle of the room and as it cleared it showed the form of Anko, who turned to the class and yelled "Now where is my little brother and his cute girlfriend?"

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. The cliffhanger no jutsu is back! I, as many people do, love Anko, and I decided to bring her into the story as team 15's faux sensei. I also introduced two of the other jinchuriki in the chapter, along with bashing Kiba and Sasuke. Kiba will get the lesson, but Sasuke is not going to give up, so he will have more pain in store for him later. Overall, this was a successful chapter, but we are not done! We still have the Omake to go, and I would like to thank everyone for their submissions, and ask that you keep it up. I put a chapter up every day so there are plenty of chances for you to have your devilish ideas made into the Omake.**

**But enough of that, on with the Omake!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Wheel of Torture chapter 2

The root members were now annoyed at the door that stood in front of them. The last night, it had somehow summoned chickens that killed a great many of them. But today was a new day, and a different member of the force decided to try his luck with the door. He injected his chakra into the door, and to his horror, the wheel began to spin again.

This time it settled on "Wrath of the Madgod".

There was a brilliant flash of purple, and there standing before them was the daedric prince of madness, Sheagorath himself.

Sheagorath took a moment to get him bearing before he said "Well it would seem that my old champion Minato's door has chosen to summon me at this inopportune time. I was in the middle of rolling cheese wheels across the palace floor. Anyways, I take it that you are the perpetrators that have caused this infernal door to summon me?"

The root members were speechless after the cheese wheel comment.

Taking their silence as a yes, the Madgod continued "Very well what should I do with you? Should I rip out your entrails and make you skip rope with them? No, that is too bloody. How about I turn your heads into cabbages? Or maybe I will make it rain flaming dogs on you like I did that settlement near Leyawin? No? How about I turn you into cheese wheels and roll you across the palace grounds? No? Really you are a tough crowd. I know! I will ask Haskill what he thinks I should do to you!"

He snapped his fingers and there stood Haskill. He then asked "So what would you recommend that I do to these humans?"

Haskill dully responded "You have not transformed anyone into cinnamon buns in while, sir. It would be a dreadful shame if something were to happen to your title as a cinnamon bun lover."

"A marvelous idea my dear Haskill! I have not transformed anyone into that recently, and I've decided that I will give the mortal world a little present. I will leave the cinnamon buns here for anyone to find and eat."

"You are definitely most generous my lord, truly this plane is not worthy of your kindness."

"Ahh…but it is! If it were not for Minato, I would not be here today, or any other day that is! But come now Haskill, we really must be going. Those cheese wheels won't roll themselves!"

With that said he snapped his fingers and vanished in a flash of purple. All that was left of the root squad was a steaming platter of fresh cinnamon buns.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that wraps up the Omake. It was in fact Lord Farsight who recommended to me to use Sheagorath, and he suggested that I turn them into sweet rolls. I changed that to cinnamon buns because they are Hinata's favorite. You will be seeing the Madgod again next chapter, but not in the Omake! He will appear when Naruto and Hinata find a platter of delicious cinnamon buns sitting outside their front door. But I leave it till tomorrow for you guys to find out what happens!**

**Keep the reviews coming!**

**Until next time.**

**Slice N Dicer**


	11. Chapter 10: First missions

**(A/N) We are back once again. First off, thank you for your continued reviews. Second I'm slightly irked at the newest manga chapter (SPOILER ALERT!). Naruto had BETTER have been joking when he said to his dad that Sakura was his girlfriend. For once I'm glad that Sakura hit him for that remark. On the bright side, with Sasuke back as one of the good guys, I think that there is no possible way for Sakura to get together with Naruto. But Minato's remark about Sakura being like Kushina scares me a little. It's almost as if it is foreshadowing something that I REALLY don't want to happen. Also, where the hell did Hinata go? She was becoming super important, which is a very good thing, then she just disappears and Sakura gets the limelight. WTF Kishimoto! While I realize that this chapter was about team 7's reunion, there's no reason to leave out Hinata all of a sudden, especially after what she had just done for Naruto. She was only in two panels and she didn't even speak. Also Minato is more of a boss than he has ever been, as he has his own chakra cloak. Also, while I get why he said it, there is no way in hell that Sasuke would become Hokage, unless Naruto decides to leave the village with Hinata (In that case it would be okay). But I swear, if Kishimoto decides to put Naruto with Sakura in the end, I will find him, along with all the other Naruhina fans, and we will get our revenge.**

**Also a response to the review from Sasas: Congratulations, you are my first ever negative reviewer. I figured this would happen sometime or another. But I must say, you seem to be pretty one-sided in your opinion. I currently have nearly 100 reviews and not a single one other than yours is negative. Also I love having Naruto and Hinata use nicknames for each other, as I think that it is cute. One of my favorites for Hinata that I haven't used is Tenshi-chan. I don't think that would be appropriate for Naruto to use on Hinata in this story, as they are both Hanyous. Also, considering the amount of Naruhina fanfics out there, it is pretty much impossible to be completely original. So while I respect your opinion, I also completely ignore it. Have a good day.**

**Anyways, on with the show.**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 10: First missions

Naruto and Hinata were completely ignoring Anko's flashy entrance by kissing in the back of the room. Seeing this immediately annoyed Anko, so she took a kunai out of her pounch and threw it straight at them. Naruto deftly caught the kunai with one of his tails and threw it back in front of her. This annoyed Anko even more, but she kept her cool since they were at least paying enough attention to actually stop her attack. So she shouted "Okay, that's enough of that you two. You can do that later, so meet me on top of the roof in five minutes!" With that, she shunshined off in a swirl of leaves.

Finally breaking their kiss, Naruto said to Hinata "Well I guess we should see what this about. We can continue at home later."

They then shunshined to the roof, not in a swirl of leaves, but in a swirl of blue flames. The rest of the class was shocked that both of them knew the shunshin. Not only that, but they had used flames instead of leaves.

**(Roof of the academy)**

Naruto and Hinata arrived in a swirl of blue flames to find Anko waiting for them, eating a stick of dango. She nodded at them approvingly and said "You both know the shunshin. I'm impressed. But now to business. I'm sure you have some questions for me?"

Naruto nodded and said "Why are you our sensei? We already have one and we both requested that we be given no one else."

Anko grinned and said "Well little brother, it's quite simple. I am your _official_ sensei, as one is needed for you two to officially be a squad. Did you think that the Hokage was going to come clean and say that the Kyuubi was your sensei? That would never fly with the higher ups, even though you have the council in your pocket. Also you need a physical person to be there as your sensei if you wish to take the chunin exams. Besides, the Hokage had to pull quite a few strings to get you into the first ever two-man squad. By the way, what did you do to get those idiots in the council on your side? I've only heard that you did something _violent _to get those idiots to see sense."

Now it was Naruto's turn to grin as he said "Sorry big sis, but that's classified. Although I'm sure you heard the short version of what we did when we told the banshee."

"That was the short version? Wow. I said it before and I'll say it again, but you should really think about joining the T & I department. We could use someone of your caliber." Said Anko. "Anyways, on to business. Normally I would have you take a test to see if you are truly worthy of being a genin team, but as you two are a special case, I see no need to conduct said test. From what I get the impression of, you two are already high chunin to low jonin level already."

Naruto said to Hinata through their mind link "_More like high jonin to kage level. But Anko doesn't need to know that" _before saying to Anko "So since you are our official sensei, will you need to be there for our missions?"

Anko was thoughtful for a moment before she said "I don't think that I will need to be there. You kids can handle yourselves. The only reason I'm here is to keep the other genin squads from asking questions. So now that that's done, I'm going to take my leave and get some more dango. You two can have fun doing whatever you want. If you ever want any training in poisons though, don't hesitate to ask." With that she shunshined away to get some more of her precious dango.

Naruto turned to Hinata and said "So what do you want to do Hina-chan? Should we head back to the estate to continue what we were doing in the classroom? Or should we drop by the old man and get some missions? I know that we don't need any money, but you have to of completed a number of missions before being able to take the chunin exams. So what do you say?"

"How about we do both? We can drop by the Hokage's to get a few missions, then create some clones to do the missions while we head back to the estate so we can continue."

"Great idea Hina-chan!"

With that they shunshined away in a swirl of flames.

**(Hokage tower)**

The hokage was happily smoking his pipe as he relaxed in his chair. Sure, what Naruto and Hinata had done to the council had resulted in an astounding amount of paperwork, but it was worth it in his eyes. For one, he got to watch the council get put in their rightful place, which is something he should have done a long time ago. Second, and by far more important, Naruto had told him the secret to defeating the Hokage's bane. If he had not learned this and he got the amount of paperwork from that incident that he did, he would be drowning in paperwork for at least a year. But that was not the case! Thank the log for shadow clones! How he had not thought of using them before was beyond him, but now that he knew, he had so much time on his hands to do what he wanted. He was half tempted to take a S rank mission for the fun of it, but the council would never allow it. So there he was sitting in his chair, almost bored. But he could never truly do nothing for long enough to become bored because there was always someone who would appear through the window to ask something of him.

It was while Hiruzen was contemplating these things that Naruto and Hinata appeared in a swirl of blue flames. Hiruzen looked up at them and said "I see that you two have learned the shunshin. Very impressive for a fresh genin."

Naruto laughed and said "I see that you are enjoying not drowning in paperwork old man."

Hiruzen let out a hearty chuckle and said "Yes, thanks to you. I am in your dept. Now what is it that you two want? I assume that you didn't stop by just to chat."

"Give us twenty D-ranked missions old man." Said Naruto "And you will not need to pay us when we complete them, just make sure that they go on our record when our clones turn them in. We have no need for any extra money, we checked out the clan vault and I don't think that we will ever need to worry about our monetary status ever. Even considering the fact that we will never die unless killed."

Hiruzen chuckled and said "I see that you two are aiming to become chunin as quick as possible. Will your clones be under a henge or will they be your true selves?"

Hinata giggled and said "They will be our true selves. Ruto-kun and I want to get the village used to the fact that we are Hanyou and that we are of no harm to them. So we are starting with common D-ranked missions to get ourselves known throughout the village. We won't care what the villagers say as long as they let us do our jobs. And hopefully after they see us do our jobs, they will begin to appreciate us. But that will be for the clones to do. Ruto-kun and I are heading back to the estate to finish what we had started in the academy classroom before we were rudely interrupted, multiple times."

Hiruzen sweat dropped upon hearing this and he got twenty mission scrolls. He handed them to Naruto and Hinata, who walked out the door. They looked over each of them and Naruto was reading over the scroll that had the capture Tora mission on it when Kurama spoke up in his mind.

"**Kit, I have an idea for that mission. Summon your mom. When she tortured the council, she used that cat as one of the ways that she tortured them.**"

Naruto said "Hai, Kurama-sensei" and went through the hand seals for the summoning jutsu. He slammed his palm on the ground and in a puff of smoke, there was his mother.

"So you want me to summon Tora?" asked Kushina "Very well but I should be the one that gives her to the Hokage, as I am one of the few people that can hold her without getting their face clawed off."

With that said she ran through the hand seals and slammed her palm on the ground saying "**Kuchiyose: Oni Neko**"

Tora appeared in Kushina's arms in a puff of smoke, and to everyone's surprise, she proceeded to jump out of Kushina's arms and into Hinata's.

Kushina then said "I'm impressed Hinata. The fact that Tora accepts you is all the proof that I need to allow you to sign my special summoning contract." She then clapped her hands and a large scroll appeared in her hands. "This contract will allow you to summon demon cats, and since it is also a demon summoning scroll, it will not interfere with the kitsune scroll that you have already signed. Just think about cats more than foxes when you summon and you'll get a demon cat when you summon."

Kushina handed the scroll to Hinata who had dropped the mission scrolls that she had been carrying when Tora leapt into her arms. She exchanged Tora for the scroll and then unraveled the scroll. She signed her name and blood before attempting to hand the scroll back to Kushina. Kushina shook her head and said "Keep it. Since I'm technically dead, you are now the owner of this summoning scroll. Just clap your hands and the scroll will vanish. If you ever need it again, clap your hands again when you need it and it will appear."

Hinata clapped her hands and the scroll vanished. Kushina handed Tora back to Hinata before poofing away in a cloud of smoke. Hinata then walked back into Hiruzen's office and gave him Tora. He was shocked that it was Hinata holding the demon cat, and not Kushina. Hinata explained what happened before leaving and meeting back up with Naruto outside. They created twenty Kage Bushin each, and gave each of the pairs a mission scroll. The clones shunshined away to do their jobs, leaving the originals alone.

Hinata spoke up and said "I think that that is enough distractions for today, lets head back home."

They then left and decided to walk leisurely back to the estate.

**(Outside the Namikaze Compound, 15 minutes later)**

Naruto and Hinata had just arrived outside their home to find a platter of delicious looking cinnamon buns on the ground. They were still piping hot. Hinata of course was ecstatic at the find. She took one of the buns and took a large bite out of it** (A/N: THIS IS NOT CANNIBALISM! Sheogorath completely turned the root members into cinnamon buns. There is no trace of humanity in said buns). **"These are delicious!" she remarked. "You have to try some of these Ruto-kun!"

Just then there was a large flash of purple, and standing there in all of his Madgodliness, was Sheogorath himself. He looked to Hinata and said "Finally! A fellow cinnamon bun connoisseur who likes my tastes in flavors! That means that I won't have to make you skip rope with your entrails! Instead I'll give you a gift!" He snapped his fingers and Hinata got a glazed look on her face.

Naruto was completely startled by the sudden appearance of this man, and was only snapped out of his shock by the blank face that Hinata had. He said to the strange man "Who the hell are you? And what did you do to my Hina-chan?"

Sheogorath laughed and said "Who am I? Well you my dear friend can call me Sheogorath. Or you can call me Ann Marie, but if you do, you will enjoy watching me skip rope with your entrails. As for what I did to your mate, well I gave her a gift. She should be coming back around completely normal if she accepted my gift, and if not, well let's just say her mind will be more twisted than a twister."

At that moment Hinata snapped out of her trance and looked at Sheogorath and asked "Excuse me Sheogorath-sama, but can I really do that now?"

"Oh you Japanese people and your silly honorifics. I'll be taking none of that, thank you very much. As for you being able to do _that_, why don't you practice on this cabbage?" said Sheogorath before he snapped his fingers, conjuring a cabbage.

Hinata then snapped her fingers, and the cabbage turned into a steaming hot cinnamon bun. Hinata squealed with delight before running over to the bun and taking a huge bite out of the bun. "A bit cabbagey tasting, but still very good!" Hinata remarked to herself.

Sheogorath laughed in amusement before saying "Excellent, you can now turn objects into cinnamon buns. Since you are still a wee bit inexperienced, the bun will take on a little bit of the flavor of the object it had been. But that will go away with practice. Now I have to get back to my palace before the Aureals and Mazkin start to kill each other. But first I have to say, that you" he pointed at Naruto "are the splitting image of your father, minus the fox features of course. But I have to say, those features have given me a wonderfully horrible idea of a new chamber that I could add to Xedilian. That place has been busy nonstop ever since your father reactivated it, and the other chambers are starting to get a bit boring."

Naruto immediately perked up upon hearing about his father and asked "You knew my father? How?"

"Of course I knew your father. He was only the champion of my realm! In fact I would not be here today if your father hadn't chosen to reject the title of madgod after he defeated myself. I would have been him and he would have been me, but he chose to split off from the power of a god and recreated me. So without him, there would be no me! So I am eternally grateful to Minato for not only stopping the graymarch, but also for giving up godhood so that I could be me once again! But I really must be going. I have so little things to do and so much time to do them!"

With that said, Sheogorath disappeared in a flash of purple. Naruto just stood there dumbfounded, until Hinata snapped him out of it and dragged him inside. They then went to their bed where they proceeded to make out. The rest of the day passed slowly by as they entertained themselves by training, reading through jutsu scrolls, or just relaxing by the poolside. Life for Naruto and Hinata Namikaze was currently very good.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. I'm sorry for those of you who had no clue what I was talking about with Sheogorath, but all I have to say for you is that you should probably by Oblivion and its expansion, The Shivering Isles, and play through them. They are absolutely amazing. You will also then know exactly what is going on with what I referenced. So now Hinata can turn objects into cinnamon buns and she has signed the demon cat summoning contract. I gave her a lot of gifts in this chapter, but rest assured, she will make good use of them. Does ramen flavored cinnamon buns give anyone any ideas? Hinata will have no problem luring Naruto to the dark side of the bun.**

**Anyways, there still is the omake to go, so let's get on with that!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Wheel of Torture chapter 3: special Sasuke edition

Sasuke was brooding. Sure he was always brooding, but this time he was extra moody. The dobe had completely showed him up today, and he was going to get revenge. He now knew that the dobe lived at the Namikaze compound, but he still refused to believe that the dobe was actually a Namikaze. So Sasuke, in his infinite wisdom, decided that if the dobe could break into the Namikaze compound, then it would be a breeze for an Uchiha to do it. He was going to go in, steal as much as he could, and leave before the dobe knew that he was there.

So that brings us to the current situation. Sasuke was standing in front of the iron door, wondering how to get in. He put his hand on the door, not even injecting any chakra, when suddenly the Kanji for "Uchiha Alert" was written on the door and the door began spinning the wheel.

The wheel stopped on "Special Skyrim Chickens".

Suddenly all around Sasuke, poofs of smoke appeared and when they cleared, there stood a dozen chickens, who were slowly and menacingly closing in on Sasuke. The moment the first one got close to Sasuke, it started shining brightly, before exploding violently. It was only Sasuke's skills as a ninja that saved his life, but he was still badly burned. Deciding that it wasn't worth it, he turned and ran towards the safety of the Uchiha compound.

Several people saw the last Uchiha running for his life from chickens. They were quite confused. However, the root members that saw him just thanked the log that the door had given that punishment to someone else.

And from then forth, the last Uchiha, like all of root, developed a fear of the feathered kind.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's that. As much as I would like to, I can't kill off Sasuke. Besides, who else would be the prime bashing candidate? I hope you guys liked the exploding chickens. Several people actually suggested it to me, so if you were one of those people, pat yourself on the back. I was just in an elder scrolls mood today. The only game that we haven't gotten something from is Morrowind, so I need to think about what I can include from that game, as it is my personal favorite of the elder scrolls series.**

**But enough of that,**

**Until next time**

**Slice N Dicer**


	12. Chapter 11: Team 8

**(A/N) We are back again. I would like to once again thank my dedicated fans and reviews, who have convinced me that Kishimoto was probably trolling us in the last manga chapter with the whole girlfriend thing. I am very curious as to what the next chapter has to offer, so I will be eagerly awaiting the next week. Now if only the anime would get off these damn fillers, then I would be really happy. I mean come on, give us a new opening with Madara vs the Gokage, but force us to watch fillers till who knows when! That's just mean.**

**Anyways, today's chapter will involve the new Team 8, and will have a nice bijuu meeting with Shino and Kurenai dragged in as well. Won't they be in for a shocker?**

**I don't really have anything to rant on today, and I'm glad that a few of you were supportive of the way I think, so we will be going straight to the chapter!**

**On with the show!**

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Chapter 11: Team 8

Hinata awoke the next day a bit earlier than usual, as her brain was still in the process of sorting out the information that Sheogorath had given her. Apparently, Sheogorath had deemed it necessary to fill her head with a lot of useless (or so she thought) facts and also gave her a few more gifts than just the cinnamon bun one. Such as the fact that the max speed of a rolling six pound cheese wheel was 20 mph under the right conditions. Hinata untangled her tails from Naruto's without his help (she was only able to do this since one of the random gifts was how to untangle any knot) and went and showered. She then got dressed and set out for a walk. She visited the garden and remembered that she told herself that she would wear a flower in her hair, so she picked out a pretty lavender one, and put it in her hair. She then headed back to the master bedroom.

Hinata arrived to find Naruto getting dressed, so they headed down to the kitchen together. Hinata had a devious idea of what to make using her new powers, so she told Naruto to wait outside while she made breakfast.

Inside the kitchen, she set to work. She put on a huge pot of water on the boiler, and prepared some ingredients. She then proceeded to make her special homemade ramen. When it was all cooked, she separated the ramen into twelve bowls. She snapped her fingers and instantly all of the ramen in the bowls was transformed into delicious cinnamon buns. Hinata made some rice to go with the buns, before she called Naruto into the kitchen.

Hinata saw that Naruto was disappointed at the apparent lack of ramen when he was sure that he had smelled it and she said "You really have to try the buns Ruto-kun, they are extra special today."

Listening to his mate, Naruto took a big bite out of one of the buns and his eyes widened at the ramen flavor. He quickly devored four more before saying to Hinata "I don't know how you made these and I honestly don't care. All I know is that these are probably the most delicious things in existence."

Hinata giggled and said "I knew that you would love them. I made them with the gift that Sheogorath-sama gave to me. So you should be thanking him for giving me such a perfect gift."

Naruto had scarfed down another four buns while she said this before saying "I'll be sure to thank him the next time we see him. He may be a little bit off, but I like him."

Hinata giggled and said "I like him too. So what would you like to do today Ruto-kun?"

Naruto was thoughtful for a moment before he said "I would like to visit Team 8. They have two jinchuriki on that team, and we need them on our side. I figure we can drop by and talk to them during their team assessment. Kurenai is like a big sister to you right? Do you have any idea when and where she would hold her assessment?"

Hinata thought for a moment before saying "Yes, she is my unofficial nee-san. As for the time and place, I would have to guess 9:00 and training ground 8. That was where and when she took me to privately train back when I was with _them._" She said "_them_" with a large amount of venom in her voice.

"Okay its 8:45 now, so we should head out."

They cleaned up their dishes and headed out.

**(Training ground 8, 9:00)**

Shino was confused. While he liked his team just fine, as he felt he might be able to open up a little bit to them, he was confused about the lime haired girl that was chatting animatedly to their other teammate. For some reason, Shino's bugs seemed to be drawn to the girl. He couldn't figure out why, other than for some reason she had a bit of odd chakra. But the weird thing was the other girl on his team also had odd chakra, but his bugs seemed to not care about her. So Shino was standing there trying to figure out the enigma that was the girl named Fu, when Kurenai appeared in a swirl of leaves.

"I'm glad to see that you three are punctual. To be late for a mission is a crime in my book." Said Kurenai while thinking of a certain book reading jonin. "So today is the day where we see if you three are truly ready to become genin. I hope for your sakes that you do well. Today's test will be-"

Kurenai was suddenly cut off by Fu and Yugito suddenly whipping around and standing at the ready.

"What is it you two? Your files never said anything about you two being sensory types. And I don't sense anything off." Said Kurenai.

Yugito never took her eyes off a piece of air when she answered "We aren't sensory types. But I suddenly got the feeling like I was in the presence of someone familiar."

"Same." Agreed Fu.

Suddenly a giggle rang through the air and a cute voice said "Aww…they figured us out Ruto-kun. I guess you were right when you said that the illusion would be of no use against people like us."

With that the illusion faded away, revealing Naruto and Hinata standing a few feet away from team 8.

Naruto grinned and then pointed at Fu and Yugito and said "We both know what you two are and I'm assuming that the other members of your team don't know, and that has to change. You two both know what Hina-chan and I are, since you were there in the academy when we told everybody. So Hina-chan and I have two questions for the both of you. One: How much contact have you been in with your tenants, and two: Would you like to become what Hina-chan and I are?"

Both Fu and Yugito were dumbfounded. How did this couple know their secrets? No one other than the Hokage knew that they were jinchuriki. So Fu spoke up and said "How do you know about that? The only person who is supposed to know that is the Hokage!"

Naruto laughed and said "Duh, I was like you two are. So of course I recognize another one of my kin. Besides, if you two were not what you are, you would have never have been able to sense us through our illusion."

Kurenai chose to interrupt at this point and said "What are you talking about Naruto? What do you mean that they are like you were?"

Naruto smiled and said "Well the easiest way would be to show you all." With that said, he clapped his hands and everyone there fell into unconsciousness.

**(Shared Mindscape)**

Shino and Kurenai woke up to find themselves in a blank expanse of space. They looked around and were immediately fearful for their lives.

Standing around them in a circle were Naruto, Hinata, Fu, and Yugito. But that was not what scared them. What scared them was that behind Naruto and Hinata was a nine-tailed fox. They then looked at Fu and Yugito and were completely surprised. Behind Fu was a giant beetle with six wing-like tails and a seventh normal tail. Behind Yugito was a large cat with two tails that seemed to be entirely composed of blue flames. They were equally surprised when the fox behind Naruto and Hinata started to speak.

"**Chomei, Matatabi, it is good to see you again. Now I would like you two kindly answer the question that my kit asked your containers.**" Said Kurama.

Matatabi spoke up first and said "**I have taken care of my kitten ever since she was left an orphan when her mother died. She has decent control of my powers and I am her mother figure. I speak with her every day.**"

Kurama nodded and said "**So you chose the direct approach. Very well, what about you Chomei?**"

"**I, the lucky number seven Chomei, have chosen to only help Fu when she was in danger of dying. She knows that I'm inside her but I don't interact much with her. If I may ask Kurama, what approach did you take with your container? I can see that you two have merged, but I am indeed curious as to what would make you choose to do that. I would have thought that you would have been too proud to ever accept a merge."**

Kurama laughed and said **"I took the same approach that you did. I appeared when he was in danger to save him, but he did something so ridiculous that I offered him the chance to merge. Then he did something even more ridiculous than the first!"**

"**Oh, so what did he do?"** asked Matatabi.

Kurama again laughed and said **"The brat stood up to me! And then after he accepted the deal to merge to save his vixen's life, he actually asked what my name was! No one had ever asked my name before! That's what made me really respect the kit."**

Naruto then interrupted the beasts and said "While I understand that you haven't seen each other in a long time, can we get to the reason that we are here? I want you two-" he pointed at Fu and Yugito "to merge with your bijuu."

Chomei then spoke up and said "**And why should we listen to you?**"

Kurama spoke up and said "**If you think that the container gets all the perks when you merge then you would be dead wrong. First, you wouldn't be stuck behind a seal all the time. You would have free range in your container's mindscape. Second, your container would be able to summon you to the real world. I have to say that it feels excellent stretching your legs after being stuck in a seal for so long. And third you get a hanyou form that you can take whenever you want, so you don't have to be stuck in such a large body all the time."**

Chomei thought this over for a moment before saying **"That sounds acceptable. I will merge. Come here Fu and rip my seal off. I promise that I will not take over."**

Fu looked at Naruto and asked "What will I get if I merge with Chomei?"

Naruto was thoughtful for a moment before he said "Well I'm really not sure what will happen to you appearance wise, but I can guarantee that you will be far stronger than before. Also, if I am correct, you will be able to share your power with one other person. For kitsune Hanyous that happens through the mate mark, but I have no clue how it will work for you with Chomei being an insect. The only cons are that you will be quite noticeable as someone who isn't _normal_."

Fu then walked over to Chomei and said "I'll do it." Her seal appeared in front of her and she ripped it down. There was a bright flash of lime-green chakra and when it died down it revealed the new and improved Fu. She was 18 now, and the only change that was obviously from Chomei were the six yellow and red wings that grew out of her tailbone. She had grown slightly taller and her breasts were straining uncomfortably against her tight shirt. How they didn't rip through the shirt, no one knew. She previously had B-cups, but they had grown into D-cups from the change. She quickly used a demon henge to change her breasts back until she could get new clothes.** (A/N: the demon henge actually changes your body unlike the normal henge, which is just an illusion)**

Shino had turned bright red upon seeing the new Fu. While he now understood why his insects were so interested in her, now he felt like he should follow whatever she said to do. That and his physical reaction to Fu's new body left the normally emotionless man struggling to gain control over his emotions.

Fu laughed at Shino as she understood exactly what was happening to him. She had just become a queen of insects, and since Shino had merged his body with insects, he was struggling to control the urges to obey the queen. She came up with a brilliant idea and said to Shino "I am now a queen of insects, so I understand that you will want to follow me and do whatever I say. However, this would mess up our team dynamics, so I'll cut you a deal. I'll make you my king, so that you won't be effected by my aura. Also I like you, and I think you are cute, and I can tell by the physical reaction that you're having to me that you obviously like me, so it's a win-win for both of us."

Shino just nodded and Fu walked over to him and scattered dust from her tails all over Shino. The dust then settled into the shape of the beetle before burning its way through Shino's coat and giving him a tattoo that encompassed his entire back. Shino instantly felt calmer and he felt that he could control his emotions in Fu's presence once more. He also felt taller and he looked down to see that he was now eighteen as well.

Fu just smiled at his transformation, but inwardly she thought "_Damn, he's really hot now…_"

Yugito upon watching this unfold decided that she would have to merge or she would be left in the dust in their team, as she could feel the power radiating off Fu and Shino. She turned to Matatabi and said "I'm ready to merge with you".

Matatabi looked at her and said "**Very well, but first I sense that the vixen here has my scroll. I left that scroll with Kushina, but she died an untimely death, so I thought that I would never see it again. Young Hinata, would you kindly bring it out so that my kitten could sign it before we merge?"**

Hinata nodded and then clapped her hands, summoning the scroll. Yugito signed the scroll in her blood before giving it back to Hinata. She then turned to Matatabi and willed the seal to appear. It did so and she ripped it off, causing an explosion of dark blue chakra. When it subsided, an 18 year old Yugito stood there. She now had two blue tails that seemed to constantly be on fire. She also had a pair of flaming cat ears and Matatabi's different color eyes (one yellow, one green). Her bust size had also increased from B's to D's, and like Fu, she was forced to use a demon henge until she could by more clothes.

Naruto was satisfied with what happened and brought them out of the mindscape.

**(Training ground 8)**

They all woke to find that they were still standing. Kurenai looked at her watch and was shocked to see that not a moment had passed. She asked "How is this possible?"

Hinata giggled and said "Inside a mindscape, the controller can adjust time to how they see fit. It's quite useful if you need to memorize something and don't have a lot of time to do it."

Kurenai then continued by saying "So let me get this straight. Yugito and Fu were jinchuriki, and I was never told. And now they have merged with their bijuu, making them Hanyou. Not only that, but Fu made Shino her king."

Naruto laughed and said "That's right Kurenai-san. You had better keep training because before long, they are all going to surpass you because I suspect that Chomei will be teaching Fu and Shino and Matatabi will be teaching Yugito. So you better get to work. I would also like to propose that our teams meet every once in a while to do joint training. Hina-chan and I would like to get to know our fellow Hanyou better, and what better way is there to do that than to spar? Also, I don't think that you will need to administer the test any more, since all Hanyou are naturally linked to each other since there are so few of us, and the main idea of the test was to test teamwork, right?"

Kurenai nodded and said "Very well, you are all dismissed. I take it that you all need to buy new clothes, so go do that. Shino, I think that you should ask your father if Fu can stay with your clan. Once you explain what happened, I'm sure that he will be happy to oblige, if Fu's aura doesn't get to him first."

Shino nodded and the pair walked towards the nearest clothing shop. Kurenai then headed home, leaving Naruto, Hinata and Yugito. Hinata then asked Yugito "So where are you living at?"

"I'm living in an old run-down apartment that the Hokage gave me. He tried to give me better, but the council wouldn't allow it."

Hinata was saddened to hear that and said "Why don't you come live with Naruto and me in our compound as a guest. We have plenty of space, and it gets a bit lonely with it just being us in there. Since you are a fellow Hanyou, you are practically our sister already."

Yugito was shocked at Hinata's offer and said "I'm honored that you would even consider letting me into your estate, especially since I am from another village. But I feel as though I would betray your trust if I took up on your offer without telling you why I was sent here. Kumo sent me as a spy to find a Hyuuga that we could capture during the upcoming chunin exams. I told them to target you Hinata, as you always appeared to be so weak in the academy. I was definitely wrong."

Hinata just giggled and said "I knew that Kumo would probably try to take me during the exams. They already tried to capture me once before when I was three. This time they will be in for one hell of a surprise. Besides, my Ruto-kun will be targeted by anybody who is from Iwa once they find out his last name. They will probably target me too now that I think about it. But we will be prepared, and they won't know what hit them. So while I thank you for telling us that, the information is sort of useless. But my offer still stands. You are a sister to us, and we have seen that you are a good person. After all, you were only following your orders."

Yugito was practically moved to tears by what Hinata said, and she said "I would be honored to take up on your offer, my sister. But before we head home, can we go shopping first? I need to get new clothes."

With that, the three left to go shopping.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. Yes I decided to make Fu and Yugito Hanyou. I have yet to see a story where any of the other jinchuriki become Hanyou, so I decided to make that happen. I sort of got the idea from one of Lord Farsight's challenges that are on his profile. Also I made Shino Fu's king, because that's the only thing that I could think of that would be similar to a kitsune's mate. Also, I think Shino would look badass with a big beetle tattoo on his back. He also does not have any tails, but his abilities are much higher than what he once could do. I'll explain his new abilities in depth in a later chapter.**

**Anyways, on to the omake!**

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Wheel of Torture chapter 4

The root members were back at it once again. They had decided that they were going to send every member they had to try their chakra one at a time in hopes that one of them might have been from the Namikaze blood.

So today's unlucky victim walked up to the door and injected his chakra.

The wheel began spinning and the watching root members began praying to the log that the member who had injected his chakra have a good life in the afterlife. Or they prayed that he may be reincarnated into something more peaceful, like a potted plant.

The root member watched the wheel in horror as it came to a stop. His fate was decided. The wheel said "Reincarnation: Potted plant"

And with a flash of light, the root member was now a potted plant.

And so the log answered their prayers.

One of the root bystanders went to the potted plant and picked it up, thinking that the newly made plant would be fitting in his house.

He never got that far.

He was walking down the hill from the Namikaze compound when he tripped and broke his neck.

Being reincarnated as a plant did not stop his fate. His pot shattered and he died, his soil scattered across the ground.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's all. That was one of my original ideas, and it did not come from a videogame. I was actually thinking of "Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy" when I wrote this. More specifically the part when a missle gets turned into a potted plant and thinks "Oh, not again".**

**Anyways, until next time**

**Slice N Dicer**


	13. Chapter 12: Teams 7 and 10

**(A/N) We are back. I don't really have anything to say today, other than keep up the reviews, so we will go straight to the chapter.**

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Chapter 12: Teams 7 and 10

After Hinata took Yugito and a grumbling Naruto shopping (they henged into civilians so that they wouldn't get any trouble), they headed back to the Namikaze compound. Naruto decided that he was willing to let Yugito full access to the compound, as she was his new sister. So he marked her chakra in the door before they walked through. Naruto and Hinata gave Yugito a tour of the compound, before telling her the ground rules.

First was that she would never enter Naruto's study or the cave in the side of the mountain.

Second was that she should put anything she used back in its place when she was done with it.

Third was that she was not allowed to bring any guests into the compound, without the explicit approval of Naruto or Hinata.

Finally, Hinata added that she was to always knock on the master bedroom's door to check to see if it was okay to enter.

With that done, they led her to her room and left her to her own devices. Naruto and Hinata then made lunch.

During lunch Naruto spoke up and said "So Hina-chan, what do you want to do for the rest of the day?"

Hinata responded by saying "We should first drop by the Hokage's office and get our missions before trying to find out the news of how the other teams did in their tests."

They finished off the rest of their lunch before doing the dishes and heading out to the Hokage tower. Once there, they got their twenty missions from the Hokage and set off their clones to do their jobs. While they were walking out of the tower, Hinata asked Naruto where they should look for news of the other teams.

"Honestly I have no clue where we should look." Replied Naruto.

"Then I guess we will just have to wander." Said Hinata, "Although I think we should start at some eateries, as I would assume that the test wouldn't take that long and if the team passed, then their senseis might want to take them out in celebration."

With that said, they began walking to the closest eatery, which happened to be the Akimichi family eatery. They walked inside to a few glares of the civilians eating there, but they ignored them and looked around. As luck would have it, they found team 10 sitting around a barbeque pit.

Asuma noticed them and said "Ah, Naruto, Hinata! Come sit and have a bite to eat with us! There is plenty to go around. We were just celebrating my team's becoming official ninja of the leaf!

Naruto and Hinata sat down next to Asuma by the pit, and Hinata said to the team "So you all passed? Great! What did Asuma-san test you on?"

Ino spoke up and said "Why should we tell you? After all you are just freaks who are trying to be cooler than Sasuke-kun!"

Asuma quickly berated her saying "You really should not behave that way, Ino. If you judge everyone superficially, then you will get nowhere in life. Especially in the world of the ninja. Believe it or not, if Naruto and Hinata teamed up on me, I'm sure that they would give me a run for my money."

Ino was shocked, but said "That's impossible sensei! You're a jonin and they are both genin! What could they possibly do to you?"

Asuma looked towards Naruto and said "Is it okay if I tell them?" Naruto nodded and Asuma continued "I'll let you in on a little secret. I happened upon Naruto and Hinata training with their _real_ sensei one day as I was taking a walk. The things I saw them do were insane. There would be no way that I could replicate their training methods and live. If I didn't know better, I would say that their sensei was trying to kill them with what he was having them do."

Asuma's words sunk into his team, silencing them, when Hinata giggled and said "That's because he WAS trying to kill us with his training. His excuse was that "It builds character" **(A/N: Calvin and Hobbes, anyone?). **And he succeeded, several times in fact. Let me tell you, dying is NOT fun. Especially when the Shinigami wants to train you after you do die. His training is the absolute worst. All the pain in the world and no way to escape it. You can't die since you are already dead and you apparently can't fall unconscious when you are dead. Our only hope was that our sensei would take pity on us and revive us."

Ino found her voice again and said "What you are saying is impossible. If you died then you shouldn't be here alive! No one has the power to bring back the dead."

Shikimaru then spoke up and said "Actually you're wrong on both accounts, Ino. It's probably the most troublesome thing in existence, but there are actual jutsus to bring back the dead. I believe that I heard my father say that the nidaime Hokage created a jutsu like that. However, all of those jutsu come with a heavy price to pay in exchange. The only being with the power to bring back the dead without a price is the Shinigami himself, or so I've heard."

Hinata responded to him saying, "You are correct Shikimaru. The Shinigami is the only being allowed to revive the dead for free, but he can pass along that ability as a gift. He gave that gift to our sensei."

Ino's eyes shot wide and she said "So Anko-sensei can bring back people from the dead?"

Shikimaru responded saying "Were you not paying attention, you troublesome woman? Hinata said that their sensei is a "he", and Anko is definitely the opposite of a "he".

Choji then looked up from eating his barbeque and said "Then who is their real sensei?"

Shikimaru sighed and said "The answer is another reason why at the very top of my "most troublesome" list are Naruto and Hinata and not my own mother. If you think about it is quite simple. Their real sensei who has been training them since they were both 5 is the Kyuubi itself."

Ino just stammered out "But…but…that's impossible. Why would the very demon that destroyed the village try to help the village by training leaf shinobi?"

Naruto just scoffed and said "You really need to stop thinking so superficially, Ino. Just because he is a demon does not mean that he just hates humanity. While he is not human, he still has a soul, and he does feel emotions. While he does enjoy destruction, he would normally only chose to kill those that deserve death. Although I have to admit, a lot of the villagers do deserve death based on the way that they have treated me, and the way that they are now treating Hina-chan. They keep trying to refuse our services even though we don't want any money from them in return. But that's beside the point. The reason that he attacked our village is that he was controlled. He was not acting of his own free will, and I feel that his helping Hina-chan and I become stronger is one of the ways he is saying that he is sorry."

Ino was still defensive and she said "I still don't believe that. You are just trying to take away Sasuke-kun's rightful attention. I bet that those tails and ears are not even real! They have to be some sort of henge. And there is still know way that the Kyuubi is your sensei! He's a demon!"

Hinata had had enough of Ino's superficial behavior. She snaked one of her tails around Ino's neck and held her in the air by her throat. Growling, she said "Does this feel like a henge? Can a henge slowly squeeze the life out of your pathetic body? I have been patient but I have had enough of your superficial and fangirlish behavior!" Turning to Naruto, she ordered him "Summon him. I want this girl to see just how wrong she is. I don't care if it freaks out everybody in the building and causes an incident. Just our being here is freaking people out enough, and most of the civilians left when we walked in. So hurry up and summon him!"

Naruto was seriously scared of Hinata at that point. He had never seen her that angry before, so he quickly followed her orders. In a puff of smoke, standing there was Kurama in his half-human form. Hinata dropped Ino, who then proceeded to cower in a corner for fear of her own life.

Kurama just laughed and said to the terrified girl "**You are really pathetic. I should kill you for being unworthy to even be called human, but instead I'm going to prove a point. I'm going to prove that I am not the mindless monster that you think I am by letting you live. Maybe that will knock some sense into you. Who knows, maybe you can learn to be useful by learning to view people for not only what they look like on the outside. My kit was right when he said that he thought I was sorry. I truly am sorry for what I did to your village, but if truth be told, I shouldn't have to be, since it was one of your village's own precious Uchiha that controlled me into attacking the village. So while I could rightfully slaughter you all, I am instead helping your village become stronger than it ever was by training the strongest Hokage and his wife that ever existed. So get it out of your pathetic head that I am mindless and evil! I am on your side, and will be so long as you never harm my kit and his vixen. Also, stop chasing after that stupid brat with the duck's ass on his head. He will never go anywhere in life if he stays like he is, so you might as well not drag yourself to his level. You have potential, but right now you are just a pathetic fangirl. Get it out of your system, train hard, and work with your team so that you will make a name for yourself!"**

The civilians that had stayed even though Naruto and Hinata had entered the establishment were about to run out when they saw who Naruto had summoned, but when they heard Kurama start talking, they couldn't help but feel that they had been to judgmental of Naruto, Hinata, and the Kyuubi. They left that day changed people.

Asuma turned to Kurama and said "Thank you, Kyuubi-sama. When I watched you train Naruto and Hinata all of those years ago, I knew that you were trying to help them so that they could reach their goals. Ever since that day, I have learned not to judge things superficially, and I hope that Ino will reach that realization with what you have said to her. For that I am truly thankful, and hopefully this will mark a new start for my team. The only reason that I was able to pass them today was that Shikamaru managed to convince Ino to help him with his plan was by offering to get a piece of Sasuke's clothing for her. I hope that now she will stop being a fangirl and will now focus on becoming stronger."

Ino snapped out of the state of shock that she was in upon hearing these words, stood up and looked Kurama in the eye and said "I was wrong about you and wrong about the whole way I viewed the world. Your words have made me see the truth. I will stop chasing after Sasuke, as I realize now that while I have done everything that I could to get him to even acknowledge me, he never did. He isn't worth my time. For this, and I can't believe that I am actually saying this, I am in your debt, Kyuubi-sama."

Kurama let out a loud laugh and said "**You snapped out of your shock quicker than I would have thought. You are strong, girl. It was only your attitude towards the world that had made you weak. But now I must ask you, what is your new goal?**"

Ino answered without hesitation, saying "To help my team become the next and greatest Ino-Shika-Cho trio."

Kurama once again laughed and said "**That is a fine goal. Keep it in your heart and you and your team will become strong. I have done my job now, and I figure that I should get lost before something bad happens, so I will leave you all now.**"

With that said, he poofed away in a cloud of smoke. Ino then turned to Hinata and said "I'm so sorry Hinata, I was acting so stupidly before. Can you forgive me?"

Hinata giggled and said "Of course I can. Now that you realize your mistakes, there is no reason not to forgive you. All you needed was for someone to snap you out of the state of mind that you were in, and who better to do that than the Kyuubi? He is very good with words, but he is very blunt about the truth."

Ino laughed and said "I know. But the sad thing was that what he said was the exact truth. I will need to work hard from now on to change that truth."

Naruto looked to Hinata and said "Well Hina-chan, I think we are done here. We still have to find out what happened with team 7, but I really don't want to speak to any of the team's members about it. So I suggest we find Kakashi. He is an old friend of mine, as when he was in Anbu, he helped save my life from the villagers a few times. I know exactly where he will be."

"Alright Ruto-kun. After we talk with Kakashi, it should be around dinner so how about we go on a little date afterwards? We haven't had an official one yet."

They said their goodbyes to team 10, before shunshining away to the memorial stone.

**(Memorial Stone)**

Kakashi was standing at the memorial stone, contemplating the day's events when a voice called out at him and said "Hey Kakashi-san, still moping about the past I see." He turned to see Naruto and Hinata walking towards him.

"Actually, I was thinking of how today's test went today." Replied Kakashi.

Naruto chuckled and said "So you were moping about the test? So how did those three do?"

Kakashi sighed and said "In all honesty, they shouldn't have passed."

Hinata asked "Then why did you pass them then?"

"Because if I didn't pass the Uchiha, then the council would kill me. They love that boy and I can't see why they do. He is just a stuck up brat who thinks he owns the world. The excuse that I came up with to let them pass was that Sakura followed Sasuke's plan perfectly, and Kiba actually saw the sense that he would need to team up with them if he even wanted to stand a chance. I also ended up tying Sasuke to a log and left him to watch his teammates eat lunch as part of the teamwork test, and I suspect that it was only Sakura's undying devotion to him that allowed them to pass that part of the test. Ironically, it was Kiba who showed the most potential of those three. His teamwork with Akamaru was superb."

Naruto sighed and said "I figured that you would be forced by the council to pass them, but I am surprised to hear of Kiba's potential. Maybe if he could figure out that women are not objects, then we could actually see eye-to-eye. I'm still willing to give him a chance, even after what he did in the academy. I figure the best way to knock some sense into him would be to beat him up in a fight, but I really don't want to do any joint training with your team. No offense to you Kakashi-san."

Kakashi chuckled and said "None taken. I don't even want to train my team. But I figure that I have to, and maybe I can get some sense knocked into them if I introduce them to Guy and his "Flames of Youth".

Naruto shuddered and said "While I agree that that actually might work, I just want to be as far away from them when you do it. I'm supposed to be 100% immune to genjustsu, and somehow I am still effected by the _special_ genjutsu that Guy and Lee use together."

"I completely agree with you there. Did you know that the hokage had that jutsu rated as an S-ranked kinjutsu?" asked Kakashi.

"Really? That explains a lot. Anyways, Hina-chan and I have a date to go on, so we have to go get ready for that. I'll see you around Kakashi-san."

With that Naruto and Hinata shunshined away to get ready for their date.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. Next chapter will be Naruto and Hinata's date, and then I will probably start to skip time to the wave mission. So far this story has only taken place over a few days in Naruto-time, and I really want to get to the chunin exams. They are going to be a lot of fun to write.**

**In this chapter I had to bash the superficialness out of Ino. But now she gets the point and she won't be a fangirl anymore. I honestly am indifferent to Ino's character in the actual manga, but I don't want her to be a fangirl. I also don't like it when she is paired with Naruto and Hinata in fanfics. She is too superficial to like Naruto, but I guess some people like the pairing.**

**Anyways, on to the omake.**

**()()()()()()()()**

Wheel of Torture chapter 5

"Today was the day." is what the root members thought. "Today is the day that we will get into the compound."

After numerous failed attempts to get through the main gate, one of the members had the bright idea of climbing over the walls.

And so they had begun to climb the walls.

They reached the top of the wall and were surprised to find that they were stopped from actually going past the peak of the wall by some sort of invisible barrier.

Just then, someone screamed into their comms "ABORT! ABORT! THE WHEEL IS SPINNING!"

The member who had said this watched the wheel on the gate spin. It chose to settle on "Cliffracers"

The members on the wall watched in horror as the sky was filled by puffs of smoke. Out of the smoke flew Cliffracers which proceeded to attack the members on the wall.

Several of the members chose to jump to their death, instead of facing the wrath of the flying pterodactyl type monsters.

The victorious shrieks of the cliffracers filled the skies as they left none surviving. They flew circles around the dead bodies until they poofed back to the Red Mountain in clouds of smoke.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's the omake! For those of you who don't know what a cliffracer is, count yourself lucky. Or count yourself unlucky, because that pretty much guarentees that you haven't played Morrowind, which is one of my favorite games of all time. I really hate those flying bastards, as you could never see them unless they were right on top of you, attacking. They also made it impossible to rest while just one was in the vicinity.**

**Anyways, until next time.**

**Slice N Dicer**


	14. Chapter 13: Date and Time

**(A/N) And I'm back. Sorry about not getting a chapter done yesterday, but I do have a life too! That and I spent over 5 million ryo in Storm 3 buying everything in the shop. And I completed all of the side missions. So all I have to do is get the titles that you get from fighting online, and get the achievements for getting S ranked on the final battle and seven swordsman battle. Then I will have completely completed Storm 3! I do have to say that that game's developers have a thing for Naruhina though, and that makes me happy. So anyways, I will get two chapters done one day to make up for me missing a day. It will probably happen during the wave arc though. I already have most of what will happen planned up in my head, so it will just be the task of typing for a while. Anywho, today's chapter will be the date that Naruto and Hinata are going on, and it's their first official one. I will also start the time skip to when the land of waves is going to take place.**

** : While Naruto and Hinata are currently rather powerful, becoming Hanyou did not immediately give them the strength that they have. When they became Hanyou, their physical abilities got a huge boost, as did the strength of their basic senses. They did not, however, learn any new techniques from the change. They got those from their grueling training with Kurama, Minato, and Kushina. They have been training for 8 years, and that is what makes them as strong as they are. However, the Kage would still be able to beat them in a fight because they have what Naruto and Hinata lack, which is real battle experience. Once they gain this, they will truly become above Kage level. However that will take a while. When Naruto said that they were upper jonin to kage level, they meant in pure strength. But strength alone does not a good ninja make. So they still have a bit to go before they are the most powerful beings around.**

**Divebomb Crow: While I could whip up some tribbles, I also would be worried about what would happen if they were to breed. I don't want my world to become infested with rapidly breeding furballs, so I won't do that. Or at least not now. Maybe if I think of something that could stop them.**

**Anyway, on with the chapter!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 13: Date and Time

Naruto and Hinata arrived in front of the Namikaze compound in a swirl of flames. They headed inside and went to their bedroom. Hinata turned to Naruto and said "How about you pick out what you are going to wear and go to Yugito's room to get changed. Send her in here so that she can help me pick out what I'm going to wear."

"Fine, but no using your Byakugan to get a sneek peek on what I'm wearing. I want it to be a surprise. Just send Yugito in to tell me when you are ready." Replied Naruto.

Hinata giggled and said "Aww, your no fun. But I won't peek. Now run along and get Yugito."

Naruto went to his closet and picked something out, but he used his body to shield the garment from Hinata's prying eyes. He then left and went to the guest room that Yugito was staying in. He knocked on her door and waited, hiding his choice of clothes behind his back. Yugito poked her head out and said "What do you want nii-san?"

"Hinata and I are going on our first date, and she wants your opinion on what she should wear. We both want our choice of clothing to be a surprise, so I'm going to change in your room, while you help Hinata with whatever she needs help with." Replied Naruto.

Yugito squealed with delight and said "This is your first date? Then she'll really need to be wearing something special. I'll go help her right away. I hope you chose something decent too."

With that, Yugito raced off to the master bedroom. Naruto stepped inside Yugito's room and got changed. He started watching TV until half an hour later someone knocked on the door. He answered and found that it was Yugito. She said "Hinata is just finishing up putting on her make-up. Why don't you go to the gate and wait for her there? By the way, if you weren't committed to being Hinata's, then I would go out with you given what you look like in those clothes."

Naruto chuckled at the compliment and said "Sorry nee-san, but Hinata is my one and only. But thanks for the compliment. I'll head to the gate now."

With that said, he took his leave. He headed to the gate and waited at it, examining some of the torture seals on it to pass the time. Five minutes later he heard a soft "Ruto-kun?" He turned and his jaw dropped at what he saw.

Hinata was wearing a sleeveless red sundress that hugged her curves quite nicely. The sundress had a flower motif along the hem of the dress, and was cut low to reveal Hinata's cleavage. She still wore her fox pendant around her neck that rested on her breasts. She wore a pair of lavender heels on her feet. She had a red flower tucked into her hair, which was still in its usual let down position. She had a small amount of make-up and had a light red lipstick on her lips.

"You look amazing, Hina-chan." Said Naruto.

Hinata giggled and said "And you look quite handsome yourself, Ruto-kun."

Naruto was wearing a dark blue kimono that had orange tendrils snaking up from the bottom. He didn't even try to comb his hair, since he knew that that would never work. His kimono was open a little in the front, revealing an orange undershirt that blended quite nicely with his kimono** (A/N: Let's all face it. Naruto can make orange work)**. He had a pair of simple black shoes with black tabi.

Naruto linked his arm with Hinata's and they left the compound. They were slowly walking deeper into the village when Naruto said "It might be difficult for us to find someplace to eat. I do not want to eat ramen for our first date, and I'm not in the mood for barbeque, so the Akimichi family place is out too."

"Then we'll just have to walk in on a place and see if they are willing to serve us. Hopefully it won't take to long for us to find a place." Replied Hinata.

As they walked around, they got quite a few stares. Normally these stares were stares of hatred, and they were usually directed to Naruto, as they blamed him for corrupting the Hyuuga heir. But today's stares were different. A lot of people were staring at Hinata. The women who stared at her were actually just jealous of her magnificent figure that was being shown off in her sundress. They were so jealous that they were ignoring the fox ears and tails. The many men who stared at her were staring for the obvious reasons, or at least they were until Naruto gave them each a death glare. The people who were staring were also confused. They knew that Naruto would always do his best to not take the normal roads, so as to avoid the hateful populace. But today he was walking in the middle of the street for all to see, with his arm wrapped around the Hyuuga heir's. It was if he was showing off that he was proud of the fact that he was a hanyou.

Then a very drunk man sauntered up to the pair. He slurred out to Hinata "Sooooo…wwwhatts a ppreetttyy llladdyy dddoiinng wiitth a ssscrruuubbb lllikkkee hiiimmm? Whhhyyy dooonnn'tt yooouuu ccoommmeee wiitthh meee for a goooood tiiimmmee?"

Everyone who was watching what happened were expecting for the demon boy to rip the man limb from limb, but what they saw shocked them.

Naruto and Hinata just walked around the man.

Seeing that he was being ignored, the man turned and grabbed Hinata's wrist, saying "Heeeyyyyy!"

Hinata just turned to him and released a burst of refined killing intent, stopping the drunk's heart. He dropped down to the ground, dead.

The bystanders were really not expecting that to happen. They had expected the demon boy to go on a rampage and destroy the village when the drunk had grabbed the girl's wrist. But instead what they saw was the girl turning to look at the drunk, and the drunk falling over, dead. They hadn't felt an ounce of the killing intent that she let out, so they were seriously confused as to how the man died. They looked back to the couple to see them walking off like nothing happened.

Naruto and Hinata reached a restaurant that piqued their interests, and stepped inside and asked for a table. They were immediately responded with a harsh "We don't serve your kind here demon. Now take your whore and leave."

Naruto just nodded and said "Very well. That is your loss." Before taking Hinata and walking out the door.

They tried six other places and each time they were met with a similar response. The next place that they were going to try was a restaurant called "Ziki's". They walked in and asked the waiter for a table, and the waiter said "Why should we serve you, demon?"

Naruto and Hinata turned to leave when they heard a voice say "Wait!" They turned around to see a man in his forties walking after them. He then said "I'm terribly sorry as to how my waiter treated you. My name is Tadakatsu Ziki. I'm the owner of this restaurant. Please come in and as an apology, I'll give you and your beautiful date a private table for two."

Naruto was confused as to how this man was acting so he said "You're willing to let us stay and eat in your restaurant? Not that we are complaining, but if the general populace hears that you let the demon and his whore eat at your restaurant, they will never eat here again. While we appreciate your offer, we do know that your restaurant is newly opened, and we would hate to be the reasons why you got shut down due to lack of business."

Mr. Ziki smiled and said "Such concern for other's welfare is exactly why I should serve you. You see, while I am new to this village, I have heard all of the rumors concerning you two. Unlike everyone else though, I know that they are false. While I did believe them at first, I was there when you summoned the kyuubi in the Akimichi's this afternoon. I have got to say, for being a demon of destruction, his speech to that little girl was damn convincing. It had the same effect on me as it did that girl. I will no longer look at things for what they will appear to be. Therefore, I will be happy for you two to eat at my place."

Naruto grinned and said "So you saw that? Well I'm glad that you did, because now you have two hungry customers. And I will be sure to come back here with my Hina-chan again for our other dates."

Hinata giggled and added "And you really don't have to worry about others leaving because of our reputation. Even if they do leave, you will have more than enough money to keep going on. While we may not look like much, my Ruto-kun can easily out eat several Akimichi members at once, and I can actually keep up with him. We have more than enough money to pay for whatever amount of food we eat. So don't you worry about other civilians. We are also both personal friends with the Hokage, and we will put in a good word for you to him. I'm sure he'll come here after we tell him, and if you say that you had the Hokage eat at your restaurant, then your business will boom. How do you think that the Akimichi family barbeque got so popular? It's all because the Hokage dropped in for lunch one day after Choza-san completed a personal mission for him."

Hearing this, Mr. Ziki's smile broadened and he said "Then I must get you two to your table immediately! If you can eat like you say you can, and are willing to put a good word to the Hokage if our food proves adequate, then I will never need to advertise again! I will even have my son Yukimura cook for you two. He is my pride and joy, as well as the best cook in the establishment. I told him what I saw today, and now all he holds is admiration for you two and the kyuubi. So he will be sure to do his best to impress you two."

With that said, Mr. Ziki led the couple to a private room. Moments later an 18 year old boy wheeled in a cart with the things necessary for cooking on it. He turned to the couple and said "Hi, I'm Yukimura. I will be your chef for today, and on a more personal note, let me say that you two are awesome. To think that you have been training with the lord of demons, and have died and come back to life is awesome! I can only hope that my cooking will impress you as much as your story has impressed me. And I don't want to be intrusive on your personal business, but do you think that you two could tell me a few stories of your training? When I was young, I always wanted to be a ninja, but I lacked the chakra reserves necessary to become one. So I became a top rate cook to help my dad, but I also took lessons in how to use the spear in the meantime as a hobby. I have to say that I'm pretty dang good. But anyways, what would you two like to eat?"

Naruto and Hinata ordered some food, and as Yukimura cooked it, they talked about the training that they each went through. It turned out that Yukimura's training in using the spear was very intense for as far as a civilian can go. Needless to say, both Naruto and Hinata were impressed with the drive and passion that he held when it came to both cooking and training with the spear. When Yukimura finished cooking the first batch of food, Hinata beckoned him to stay and chat under the premise that such a small amount of food would not satisfy the couple. So stay he did, and when Naruto and Hinata finished the batch, they quickly ordered another. This process was repeated several times as the night went on, until both Naruto and Hinata decided that they had enough. Yukimura left to get his father so that they could work out the bill. When Mr. Ziki calculated the bill, it came out to be a quarter million Ryo. Mr. Ziki's eyes widened at the amount of food that had generated this hefty sum of money, and he actually tried to lower the amount that Naruto and Hinata had to pay.

Naruto just chuckled at Mr. Ziki's efforts as he took out his wallet and took out five 50,000 Ryo notes. He gave them to the wide eyed Mr. Ziki and then gave him two more to give to his son as a tip for making such excellent food. Mr. Ziki just stood there with the money in his hand, completely shocked that they had just used 350,000 Ryo in one sitting at his restaurant.

Hinata giggled at him and said "I'll bet that you are wondering why we are willing to throw that kind of money around so nonchalantly. It's because my Ruto-kun is the heir to the Namikaze clan and I swear that they must have been very successful treasure hunters or something with the amount of money that they have in their vault. So 350,000 Ryo is barely a tiny fraction of the true amount of money we have. We also don't have very many friends, so when we do make friends, we choose to support them with our all. You can expect to see us and the Hokage here again very soon Mr. Ziki. We had a wonderful time and your son is really quite the young man. So until next time, have a good life."

With that said, Naruto and Hinata walked out the door. They started walking back to the compound when Naruto said "Don't think that our date is over yet Hina-chan. When we get back to the compound, I want us to spend some time together alone in our special place. While I had a great time talking with Yukimura, in my opinion a date is supposed to be just between the two of us. So we are going to head home and get changed into our swimsuits so that we can relax in our special place, just the two of us."

Hinata gave Naruto a peck on the cheek and said "You're always so thoughtful of others, Ruto-kun. That's one of the many reasons that I love you."

When they got back to the compound, they went to the master bedroom and got changed into their bathing suits. They snuck out to the cave so that Yugito wouldn't notice them and follow, and headed through the passage until they got to the cavern. Naruto was the first to walk into one of the hot springs, with Hinata soon following him. Naruto sat on one of the carved out benches in the spring with Hinata sitting next to him. They just relaxed and enjoyed being together, talking about random things as the heat from the springs slowly made them drowsy. Eventually, they decided that if they stayed in there too long that they would fall asleep, so they got out and dried off. They headed back to the main compound where they went straight to their room and went straight to bed, falling asleep in their swimsuits.

The next few weeks passed by at an enjoyable pace for Naruto and Hinata. Every day they would visit the Hokage's office and get their twenty D-ranked missions. Occasionally they would get a C or B ranked mission instead. They also had several more dates at Ziki's, and they also told the Hokage of Ziki's. So of course he went there. Instantly, the place became a booming business with the Shinobi side of the village. The civilian side was still wary of the place being corrupted by the demon pair, but they slowly came around. The place was constantly packed, but there was always one private room that would only be used for whenever Naruto and Hinata would come for one of their dates.

It was one afternoon that Naruto and Hinata came in to the Hokage's office to ask for their usual missions when Hiruzen gave them only one mission. The mission was to immediately go and provide backup for Team 7's mission to escort a bridge builder to the land of waves. Appearently, the mission was supposed to be C-ranked but the bridge builder had lied about how dangerous it would be. Now it was to be considered A-ranked and the mission for Naruto and Hinata was A-ranked as well. While Hiruzen would normally never even dream of sending two genin on an A-ranked mission, but he knew just how special Naruto and Hinata were, and he had complete faith in their abilities. So upon getting their new mission, Naruto and Hinata immediately shunshined away to catch up to the team.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. While this chapter was mostly filler, it is the transition I am using to get to the land of waves. The restaurant Ziki's actually does exist. It is a Japanese steakhouse that has really good food. Also I will give whoever can tell me where I got the names Tadakatsu and Yukimura from props. The next few chapters will be much more exiting, and we will get to see Naruto and Hinata use their special weapons. And a small spoiler, Haku WILL be a girl. In my opinion, he really should have been a she in canon.**

**Anyways, on to the omake!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Wheel of Torture chapter 6

Today was like any other day for the root members.

Meaning that they had failed, once again, at getting into the Namikaze compound.

So what was their punishment this time, one might ask.

And the answer they would get would be Goombas. Lots and Lots of Goombas.

When a member had injected his chakra and the wheel had said "Goombas", they were extremely confused. They had no idea what a Goomba was.

They were pleasantly surprised to find that they were quite weak and easy to kill.

That did not help them.

The sheer numbers of the Goomba horde gradually overwhelmed the root members who were at the door today. There were all sorts too. From the regular, mundane Goomba, to the spiny spiked Goomba. And of course you couldn't ever forget about the paragoombas. Or the Goombas that hopped about in boots. Or the blue and slightly harder to kill Gloombas. Even the Goomba king was there in all of his (not so) majestic glory. So of course the root members were sadly overrun by the sheer numbers.

After all, while Goombas may not be a quality opponent, they more than make up for it in quantity.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's the omake. Special thanks to Starbeam79 for repeatedly suggesting Goombas for the omake. I only took it a step further by including different varieties from Paper Mario. The trilogy of Paper Marios are all great games. In fact, there is plenty of good omake content that I could get from those games. We will see though.**

**Until next time,**

**Slice N Dicer**


	15. Chapter 14: The demon and the dobe

**(A/N) We are back. Today is shaping up to be a nice memorial day, and I've already spent some time brainstorming outside for my story. I have decided what the weapons will do and what their names will be. Thank you for all your support on the omake and weapons stuff.**

**Kiacamper: While I have been giving a lot of things to Hinata, overall Naruto and Hinata are equal. But I do have to admit that I do favor Hinata, as her younger self reminds me of my own younger self. But Naruto will receive things as well later. Overall, Naruto has more brute strength than Hinata, but Hinata has more control over her specific abilities. They completely balance each other out when they fight as a team though.**

**Jinchuurikilover2: So damn close. Pokemon Conquest is actually a combination of Pokemon and the Franchise that I was looking for. That would be Koei's Samurai Warriors. The series is based on the fights that happened during and around the Sengoku or Warring States period of Japan. Tadakatsu Honda is Ieyasu Tokugawa's chief retainer in the games, and Yukimura Sanada is the cover character of the franchise. He also shares Ichigo Kurosaki's English voice actor in the games. Those games are my favorite when it comes to the Hack N' Slash genre.**

**Anyways, on with the story.**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 14: The Demon and the Dobe

Yugito was a bit pissed off. Today was another check in day with the Kumo jonin that were her contacts. She hated those men. They were either leering at her or treating her like a weapon, just like the rest of Kumo did. In all honesty, sometimes she would have preferred to be treated like a demon like Naruto, instead of a weapon. Being treated like a weapon meant that she got respect, but it was all false respect. She hated it. She also figured that the men would try and take her back to Kumo today, so that she could be a good weapon and help with the capture of the Byakugan, like she should. So Yugito went behind their backs and told her team about her meeting. So now she was traveling a little ways outside Konoha, with Shino, Fu, and Kurenai following. They were all invisible though. Kurenai had put up a very high genjutsu that rendered her invisible to all but the very best sensors, and Fu had scattered scale powder on her and Shino that reflected the light and disrupted chakra, making them completely invisible. Yugito herself had put a demon henge on, turning herself back to her 13 year old body. The only thing that she couldn't change was her new eyes. They remained yellow and green.

As she neared the rendezvous point, she immediately saw the group of cloud Jonin. "_Idiots, you're deep within Konoha's territory and you just stand out in the open like that?_" She thought.

One of the jonin noticed her approaching and said "Hey Yugito-chan, what's up with your eyes?"

"It's a side effect from controlling too much of the Nibi's power, pay it no mind." Responded Yugito with the half-truth.

"Fine, so what news do you bring us involving the Hyuuga girl?" asked the jonin.

"A lot, actually. Most of it good." Said Yugito. "Although she is officially no longer a Hyuuga, but she managed to escape being branded by the seal. She is only under the protection of her boyfriend and their Jonin sensei. However-"

"If that's the case, we should just go in and kidnap her now!" said the Jonin excitedly.

"Quite you idiot and let me finish!" yelled Yugito. "We will not be going in to capture them now, and we will wait to the chunin exams as we originally planned. This is because of who her boyfriend is. If we do not separate them, then it will be impossible for her to be captured."

"Why?" asked one of the jonin.

"It's simple. Her boyfriend is Naruto Uzumaki, village pariah and host of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Unlike me, he has no control over his demon though. If we were to try to capture the girl with him there, he would go on a rampage. The only survivors would be him and the girl. They were put together on a special two man team for a reason. That reason being that the girl is the only one who can snap him out of his rampaging state, and if we were trying to capture her, then I see no reason why she wouldn't just let him slaughter us, especially since she still holds a grudge against Kumo for our failed attempt to capture her when she was three. Also, if that were to happen, the whole village would be notified by the chakra he would put off, and a special team of ANBU would be sent to keep watch to make sure nothing goes out of control. The ANBU would immediately capture us if we weren't dead already." Explained Yugito.

"Very well, in that case you are to return to Kumo immediately, so that you can be put on one of the genin teams that we will be sending to capture her with." Said a jonin.

"That is also a bad idea. If the transfer student from the cloud were to suddenly disappear from her team, the Hyuuga would immediately put themselves on guard, and the Hokage would become suspicious and order to have the girl tailed with ANBU. We would never get her then. The leaf ANBU are very good at doing their jobs. I will remain in the village and continue working with my team. They trust me and are a very good source of information." Again explained Yugito.

The jonin then huddled together and spoke amongst themselves before breaking apart and saying "Very well, you will remain in the village for the time being. We will again meet a few days before the chunin exams. Try and find out what tests will be given. If we can refine our plan with that information then, we will."

With that said they shunshined off to get back to Kumo. Once they were a fair distance away, Kurenai released her genjutsu and Shino and Fu shrugged off the scale powder, causing them to shimmer into existence. Kurenai then said "Well that went probably the best that it could have gone. Very good job giving them that misinformation Yugito. So long as they keep thinking that Hinata is weak and of no threat to them, then they won't be prepared for what is going to hit them when they decide to attack the pair. They will stand no chance against Naruto and Hinata."

Yugito giggled and said "I know. I just can't wait to see their faces when they realize that I betrayed them. I can't wait to officially denounce my citizenship in the cloud and join the leaf. Next time I see Naruto and Hinata, I'll tell them to not kill the cloud that attack them, just so that I can tell it to their faces."

Shino then spoke up and said "We should report our findings to the Hokage. I am sure that he will be intrigued to find that Kumo is still after the Byakugan."

Kurenai then said to Shino "By the way, how did your father react to you bringing Fu home with you?"

Shino blushed and said "I think that my father is now thinking of naming Fu as clan head instead of me now."

With that they shunshined away to talk to the Hokage.

**(Forest in the Land of Waves)**

Kakashi was in trouble and he knew it. First off, their client had lied to them, and they were attacked by the demon brothers. Sasuke managed to get hit by one of their poisoned claws, but Kiba was actually able to take out one of the brothers. However that had left him open, and he would have been ripped apart by the other brother if he himself hadn't chosen to intervene. If Sakura wasn't standing there like a useless fangirl, then she could have protected Kiba and he wouldn't have had to step in. Sasuke actually managed to deal with the poison by bleeding it out by stabbing his hand with a kunai, but Kakashi had a sneaking suspicion that he had done that out of his emo instinct. So he gave Sasuke no credit there. After that whole fiasco, they learned the truth from Tazuna, and he had sent a dog to the Hokage for back up. He was originally going to call off the mission, but it was Kiba's loyalty to the mission that convinced him otherwise. He was very proud of Kiba. The rest of their trip went off without a hitch, until they got to this forest that they were in. Kiba smelled a rabbit that wasn't from around there, and that had saved the team's life. It was enough to put him on guard quick enough to notice the giant sword that was flying through the air at them and pull his team to the ground. The swords wielder turned out to be Zabuza Momochi, and Kakashi had known that he would not be able to fight him while protecting his team, so he had ordered them to stand back. So of course the emo didn't. He had walked up to Zabuza and demanded that he be given the sword, as it should be in the hands of the elite Uchiha. The idiot. Zabuza had proceeded to lift Sasuke up and threw him against a tree, knocking him out. So of course, the fangirl broke formation and rushed over to her precious Sasuke-kun. But as the saving grace for the team, Kiba had actually listened to orders and backed off with Tazuna. So Kakashi began his fight with Zabuza. They had traded blows, until he had slipped up and followed Zabuza onto his own turf, a lake. That resulted in himself being caught in a water prison.

Kakashi was contemplating these things while he sat inside the dome of water. He knew that he could escape by activating his Raikiri, but he did not want to run the chance of stopping his own heart. If he died, Kiba wouldn't stand a chance and he would probably die due to his loyalty to the mission. He could only hope that the backup that the Hokage would hopefully send would arrive in time to save them.

Just then a blur of black and lavender shot out from the forest and nicked the dome of water. Instantly the bubble destabilized and the water fell back into the lake. The blur shot back into the forest. Kakashi jumped back onto land and thanked the log that backup had gotten there in time. He turned to the forest where the blur had come from and saw Naruto standing there grinning with his arms folded and Hinata swirling a lavender and black kusarigama around by its chain, idly whistling a tune. Naruto then spoke up and said "It looks like we made it just in time, eh, Hina-chan?"

Kakashi looked to them and said "Your timing was perfect, I would not have been able to hold my breath a moment longer. While I am thankful for your help, I have to say that I'm a bit surprised that the Hokage sent two genin on an A-ranked mission, even if you two are special. But be careful, this man is Zabuza Momochi, demon of the Hidden mist, and a former member of the seven swordsman. Hold him off while I regain some of my strength, and then I will help you take him down."

Hinata giggled and said "Sorry Kakashi-san, but you should not have said that he was a member of the seven swordsman. My Ruto-kun has been looking for someone who could give him a challenge in kenjutsu ever since he surpassed Gekko-sensei. So he will not want your or my help unless he really needs it."

Zabuza's eyes widened upon hearing this and he said to Naruto "You mean to say that you surpassed THE Hayate Gekko?" Naruto nodded and Zabuza laughed and continued "Then I will not be underestimating you, kid. I've heard of how good Gekko was with the blade, and if you've surpassed him, then you could actually give me a challenge. Tell me, what blade do you wield? It is common courtesy between swordsmen to say what blades that they wield. Also, if you want, I am curious as to how your girlfriend's kusarigama stopped my water prison. It also cut off the chakra flowing into the arm that I had in the prison to keep it going, and that's got me curious if she is wielding what I think she's wielding."

Naruto stepped out into the clearing and said "Yes I surpassed Hayate Gekko, and I have to say that if you're as good as he was then I will have a fun time fighting you. I've surpassed him in skill, but his experience far outshines my own. Skills alone won't make you powerful." Unsheathing his sword, Naruto continued "I wield the vortex blade, the Kadouken. And as to how my girlfriend carved through your water prison, she wields the kusarigama known as the abyss, the Shin'en. It has the ability to disrupt the chakra of whatever it cuts and absorbs it into its blade, also absorbing the chakra of anything connected to what it cuts."

Zabuza's eyes widened further upon these revelations and he said "You mean to say that you wield THE Kadouken, one of the fabled Uzumaki blades of legend? Those weapon's abilities are said to surpass those of the seven swords of the mist, which were actually just gifts from the Uzumaki as a sign of friendship with Kiri. And your girlfriend wields one of the most powerful kusarigamas in existence? Who the hell are you two?"

Naruto's grin widened and he said "I am Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, heir to both the Uzumaki and Namikaze clan. This beautiful lady here is Hinata Namikaze, formerly Hinata Hyuuga, and is my mate, wife, and girlfriend. We are both Kitsune Hanyou, becoming so after merging with the lord of demons, the Kyuubi no Kitsune."

Zabuza's eyes were practically popping out of his head, but then he gained control over himself and started laughing, saying "HAHAHAHA, that's quite the reputation you have there, kid. I like you. I'll tell you what, I'll cut you a deal. We'll have our fight, but we won't kill each other. If I win, then you will stand by as I kill the bridge builder and you and I go on with our marry lives like nothing happened. If you win, I will stop hunting the bridge builder and will even go and kill my bastard of an employer for you. Then after you guys finish building that bridge, my adopted daughter and I will come back with you to Konoha. Haku come out here and show yourself." Haku jumped out of a tree and landed next to Zabuza's side. Zabuza then continued "Once we get back to Konoha, you can do whatever you want with us. I'm giving up on my ambition to kill that bastard Yagura."

Naruto grinned and said "Those sound like fine terms to me, Zabuza-san. And did you say Yagura? I heard that he died and that yesterday was the coronation for the new Mizukage. I heard that it was some chick named Mei Terumi."

Zabuza started to sweat and he said "Then there is definitely no way in hell that I'm going to ever go back to Kiri. I almost want you to win now, I think I would be safer in Konoha."

Naruto sweatdropped and said "Why, do you know her or something?"

"Do I know her? She's my girlfriend! Or at least she was until I lead the failed coup on Kiri and abandoned her there. If I ever returned there she would melt my body to goop with one of those two kekkei genkai of her's!"

Naruto sweatdropped again and said "Anyways, I don't think that you have introduced me to your blade yet, Zabuza-san."

Zabuza composed himself and said "Ah yes, I wield the Decapitating Carving Knife, the Kubikiribocho. I'm sure that we will have a fun match, so let's begin!"

With that Zabuza and Naruto raced towards each other.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. I know that I'm evil. In the next chapter, I will reveal the abilities of the Kadouken, and it will be the first time that I will write a fight scene. I hope that I will not disappoint.**

**Anyways, on with the omake!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Wheel of Torture chapter 7

The root members were now getting used to the fact that the door would often say things that they did not understand or did not recognize. So today when the wheel stopped on something that they recognized, they were very afraid at what it stopped on.

It had stopped on "Amaterasu".

So the root members just stood there in fear with their eyes shut, awaiting their fate that they were certain would be fiery black flames of death.

To their surprise however, they heard a poof of smoke that sounded like something being summoned. They opened their eyes to see a white wolf with intricate red markings on its body and a flaming shield on its back.

**(Cue Issun's theme)**

They noticed a little black bouncing thing on the wolf's head and were very surprised when it started to talk.

It said "Hey Ammy, that stupid door summoned us again. And it looks like it not the normal Iwa dudes either. That means that that Minato guy pissed someone else off. I still can't believe that he rejected your offer to become a god after he helped us save Nippon from Yami. I mean you even revealed your human form for him when you asked him. And I thought Sakuya was hot, I mean damn why don't you go around in your hum-"

The little sprite was stopped short by the wolf tossing him up and grabbing him in her mouth before spitting it out on the ground.

The root members were seriously confused as to what had just happened, but their confusion was cut short by several things happening at once.

Some of the members were incinerated by flames that leapt from the shield to their bodies.

Others were suddenly chopped into fine strips by an invisible blade.

And others were ripped limb from limb by a sudden gale force wind that targeted only the root members.

None survived.

The wolf goddess turned to the door and looked sadly at it. She then placed her paw on the door and then poofed away in a bright flash of light with Issun.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's the omake. Amaterasu will be appearing again in the story when Naruto and Hinata get back from the land of waves. It has something to do with her putting her paw on the door. Anyways, I would like to thank Shi-no-Ookami for reminding me with his name of one of my favorite games of all time. Okami. That game is an absolute masterpiece, and is one of the reasons why I find Shintoism interesting. Then again, I love mythology of any sort, but its Japanese stuff, and Japanese stuff tends to be awesome.**

**So until next time,**

**Slice N Dicer**


	16. Chapter 15: The swordsmen showdown

**(A/N) And I'm back. I left you guys with a pretty nasty cliffhanger last time, but surprisingly, no one commented on it.**

**A long standing issue that some of you have pointed out is that my story feels rushed. I think I know the reason, and that is that I do short chapters but update frequently. I think this creates the illusion of things happening quickly. However, if you look at the pace that I've set in the story, you'll find that only four days had passed within the span of 13 chapters, before I skipped time a few weeks to get to where we are now. I don't think that that is a rushed pace at all, and if you read my story in one go, as I have done before, it doesn't feel rushed at all. It just has frequent clicking to the next chapter. I have read rushed stories before, and I don't really like them, due to an inordinate number of poorly documented time-skips. They are almost as bad as stories that don't start a new paragraph when different people start to speak. I just can't stand that, as I often lose track of who is saying what. But the worst is stream of consciousness. That would be thoughts that ramble on with little to no punctuation or breaking between them. The worst case of that that I have ever run into was in an actual book that is counted as a literary masterpiece. That would be "The Sound and the Fury", by William Faulkner. I had to read that in AP Lit in high school, and I had to even ask my brother to translate the stream of consciousness in it. I am a damn good reader if I say so myself (my personal favorite accomplishment in reading is reading the fifth Harry Potter book in five hours straight), and the fact that I had to ask my brother who was a senior in college at the time to translate it means that it was really bad, as even he had trouble translating it, and he is waaaaaaaay smarter than me. So I have grown to despise things that are stream of consciousness or lack punctuation.**

**Anyways, I went on a small off topic rant there, so let's get back to the story.**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 15: The swordsmen showdown

Naruto and Zabuza's blades clashed with a mighty "CLANG!" Zabuza was wielding his blade with one arm, since it was still numb from having its chakra disrupted by the Shin'en. Naruto however was using both arms, so he gradually began to overpower Zabuza. Seeing this, Zabuza jumped back, breaking their engagement, and said "I'm impressed kid, you can actually overpower my one arm, even though you are just a genin."

Naruto leapt after him, clashing his blade against Zabuza's once more, and said "You should know that the key to being a ninja is deception. Currently, our rank and age is one of our greatest strengths, along with our nonexistent reputation. While you are definitely not underestimating me as you said you would, as you would have lost already if you did, you still should realize that you should expect the unexpected fighting me. I am known as the number one prankster in Konoha, and I intend to uphold my reputation, even in battle." Saying this, he suddenly leapt off his engagement and backed away.

Zabuza laughed at his actions and said "You really are willing to do the unexpected, seeing as you just backed off when you had the clear advantage."

Naruto grinned and said "If you think that's unexpected, how about this?" Turning to Hinata he said "Hina-chan, would you please un-numb Zabuza-san's arm for him? I would like to fight him while he's at his full power."

Zabuza's grin was visible through his mask, and he said "You really are something else kid, and you value a full fight, like I do. Even though we are enemies for the time being, I trust you not to pull anything underhanded, even considering your reputation as a prankster. You said that your girlfriend was formally a Hyuuga? Very well, come here missy, and unblock my arm."

Hinata walked over to Zabuza and poked a few spots on his arm, filling them with chakra, and making it mobile again. She then backed off to the clearing to continue observing the fight.

Zabuza laughed again and said "You ready kid? Let's see if you can stand up to my full strength!" He then dashed towards Naruto, clashing once more. This time, he gradually overpowered Naruto, as with the weight of Kubikiribocho, combined with the strength of both arms overwhelmed Naruto.

Struggling against the weight of the attack, Naruto said "You really are powerful Zabuza-san. But now that we've seen who has more pure power, how about we see who has superior speed?" With that, Naruto vanished from under Zabuza's blade, which upon losing the resistance of Naruto quickly sunk into the ground. Naruto then reappeared above Zabuza and sent a slash to the back of Zabuza's neck. Zabuza then kawarimied with a nearby log, which was sliced in two by the Kadouken. Zabuza then reappeared behind Naruto and swung his sword in an effort to slice Naruto in half, but Naruto vanished once again. Reappearing on the ground, he started dashing around Zabuza **(picture Ichigo vs Byakuya) **before lunging at Zabuza with a stab. Zabuza attempted to block with the flat side of Kubikiribocho, and succeeded for a moment, but Naruto then channeled his wind chakra through Kadouken, piercing Kubikiribocho. Zabuza twisted to the side in an effort to avoid the blade, and he managed to avoid a serious wound, but he was still hit. Naruto then twisted Kadouken and using his wind nature, cut a chunk off Kubikiribocho.

Naruto backed off from Zabuza and said "Looks like I drew first blood. It also looks like that I have superior speed due to the weight of your sword."

Zabuza laughed and said "I'm really impressed. You pulled a fast one on me with that wind natured chakra of yours. To be able to cut through Kubikiribocho is quite the feat, as only the most powerful wind and lighting users can do that. But that is no matter, allow me to introduce Kubikiribocho's ability." He then bent down and picked up the chunk of the blade that Naruto had sliced off and lined it up against the main portion. He then held the blade against his wound that was still bleeding profusely, and the blade sealed the crack, repairing it completely. Zabuza then said "Kubikiribocho's ability is rather unique in that it does no harm to the opponent. It simply absorbs the iron from blood and uses it to repair the blade if it ever gets broken. This mean that one has to rely on one's own skills with the blade, and not an overpowered ability, showing true swordsmanship. I despise Samehada for that reason. While I admit that the sentient blade will only choose those worthy to wield it, it will make its wielder rely on its power too much and dull their skills as a swordsman."

Naruto grinned and said "You truly are a worthy swords master, Zabuza-san. If you are as powerful as you are with a sword that its ability only helps you fight without doing any harm to the opponent, then you know the truth that one cannot simply become powerful by relying on unique abilities. I can honestly say that I would lose to you in a fight of pure swordsmanship, but my Kadouken has a unique ability to help even the odds. How about I introduce you to it?" Zabuza went into a defensive stance upon hearing this and Naruto then slashed his blade along the ground, shouting "**Rasenkadou!**" The blade picked up the earth as it sliced the ground, before Naruto finished the slash at Zabuza. The earth and rocks that it churned up were then sent spiraling towards Zabuza with great speed, forcing Zabuza to Kawarimi with a nearby log to escape. Naruto then channeled his fire chakra through his blade, causing it to glow with flames, before slicing at Zabuza once more, shouting "**Rasenkadou!**" once again. This time it was a vortex of flames that shot off of the Kadouken, spiraling towards Zabuza. Zabuza was forced to drop the Kubikiribocho and flew through hand signs, shouting "**Suiton: Suijinheki**" before exhaling a wall of water out of his mouth which clashed with the Rasenkadou, creating a great deal of steam.

Zabuza then took advantage of the steam covering the battle by going through a few handsigns and saying "**Suiton: Kirigakure no Jutsu!**" The battlefield was covered in a thick, obscuring mist. No one could see anymore. So Naruto closed his eyes and waited. He did not have to wait long as a blade suddenly whistled through the air behind him, but Naruto held Kadouken behind him and blocked the strike. However the strike had too much weight behind it and Naruto was sent flying through the air. He did a backflip midair and landed on his feet. Knowing that he had a little time, he stuck Kadouken in the ground and went through a few hand seals and said "**Futon: Daitoppa!**" before exhaling a great gust of air, clearing the mist from the battlefield.

Zabuza then said "I'm impressed that you were able to block my blade inside the mist. Silent Killing is my specialty. Care to explain how?"

Naruto grinned and said "These ears are not just for show, you know. Even if you are completely silent to what humans could hear, I can still hear you." Naruto then focused his wind chakra through Kadouken and sliced at Zabuza with another Rasenkadou. The spiraling wind was much faster than the flame and earth versions of the technique, so Zabuza was unable to dodge or block in time. He took the full brunt off the attack, causing large lacerations to appear on his body. He did not however, even yell in pain. He took it like the badass that he is.

He started laughing and said "Well, I'll be damned. You beat me. That Rasenkadou is something else, kid. It's no wonder why that blade is legendary. As per our deal, I will stop hunting the bridge builder. But I would appreciate it if you helped Haku heal me. I will kill that bastard Gato as soon as I am better." With that said he fell over and fainted from blood loss.

Naruto sheathed his sword, and let out a huge sigh. He turned to Hinata and said "Hina-chan, could you come over here and begin healing him? You're the best healer we have here. He will be coming to the wave with us, and I wish to help him take out Gato. If Gato is as rich as I've heard, he will probably have some strong ninja hired as bodyguards, and Zabuza-san will need all the help that he can get."

Hinata hurried over to Zabuza and began healing him, with Haku hovering closely behind her. Then Kakashi, Kiba, and Tazuna walked over. Kakashi said "I'm truly impressed with your skill, Naruto. To think that you could take on Zabuza and win without getting a scratch is one of the most impressive feats that I have ever seen."

Naruto grinned and said "Don't think too much on it. His pure strength far exceeded mine, and if I got hit once, I would have been down for the count. If I hadn't worked on my speed for so long with Kurama-sensei, then I would have been destroyed. My wind style Rasenkadou is my fastest attack, and if I hadn't resorted to using it, I would have lost. The other variations of Rasenkadou are more powerful, but I would have never hit him with them. Also, if I hadn't surprised him by cutting through his blade and gotten that wound on him, he would have still been standing after getting hit by my Rasenkadou, as he would not have fainted from blood loss so soon."

Kiba then spoke up and said "Even still, that was amazing! There is no way that I'm going to mess with you or Hinata after seeing that. If she is as strong as you, then I have no chance with her. But now I feel like I'm so far behind everybody."

Naruto then said "I'm glad that you are finally seeing sense about Hina-chan and I. But don't think that you are behind everyone. I talked with Kakashi-san the other day, and he said that you have great potential. Just keep training hard and it will show. You are already much better than the banshee and the teme, so don't let them hold you back. I would suggest finding a personal sensei to train you in your spare time. Kakashi is not a good choice for you, since you are a Taijutsu type, and he is a Ninjutsu type. I suggest that you go speak with Miato Guy, and ask him to train you, as he is a Taijutsu master. A word of warning though, don't let the flames of youth consume you, or you will never be the same again. Guy's methods are a bit extreme, but if you can survive them, you will be much stronger than you were before."

Kiba looked at Naruto and said "Thanks that means a lot for me to hear you say that. I will ask Guy-sensei to train me when we get back."

Hinata then walked over and said "Zabuza-san's wounds have been closed. We just have to wait until he recovers, then we can move on, unless one of you wants to carry him?" Everyone shook their heads no and Hinata continued "Very well, we should set up camp for a little while. Also someone should alert the banshee that the fights over. I think that she wasn't even watching, as she was just staring at the teme."

Kakashi then walked over to the banshee and told her to come help set up a temporary camp. He also picked up Sasuke and took him to where the rest of the group was, so of course the banshee followed. When they got over, Sakura noticed Zabuza and Haku and screeched "Why are they still here and still alive? They attacked us!"

Naruto and Hinata winced and Kakashi explained "Naruto broke a deal with them. They are no longer our enemies, and have agreed to help us with our mission. So don't worry about them and don't get in their way."

Sakura was still unbelieving and said "What could Naruto-baka possibly do to get them to agree to a deal? He is nothing special."

Kakashi sighed and said "He stated his heritage and a little of his abilities, then the two fought and Naruto won, so now they are with us."

Sakura then screeched "If Naruto-baka won, then he really must have been weak. It must have been a fluke that he knocked out Sasuke-kun, as he is way stronger than Naruto-baka."

Hinata had enough of the banshee's squealing, so she said to her "Why don't you attend to Sasuke until he wakes up?" This effectively shut the banshee up as she sat by Sasuke and stared at him.

Kakashi turned to Kiba and said "Why don't you use that nose of yours to find something for us to eat, while I start a fire to cook it on? Naruto should rest, and Hinata should stand by and keep an eye on Zabuza's condition."

Kiba agreed and went off to hunt with Akamaru. He returned fifteen minutes later with several rabbits. They then cooked them and started eating their meal. They asked Haku about her and Zabuza's past together and got the story of their lives so far, as well as a brief introduction to what her abilities were. They then broke up into two groups, one with Kakashi and Kiba beginning Kiba's tree climbing exercises with Tazuna watching with interest, while the other was of Naruto, Hinata, and Haku, who continued talking about Haku's abilities and Naruto and Hinata's pasts. The day slowly went on as they all waited for Zabuza to regain consciousness.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. I hope you all liked the fight. Rasenkadou is Japanese for spiral vortex, and I think that that is a fitting name for the attack. It is a very versatile move, as it can take the properties of not only the user's elements, but of what it cuts as well, as I showed with the earth one. If you haven't noticed, Naruto's elements are wind and fire, but he has a subelement of foxfire. Currently, the foxfire variation of Rasenkadou is Naruto's strongest move. I have not shown it yet though, as I will save its power to be used against something that is a very strong barrier, just to show its strength.**

**Hinata's elements will be water and fire, just for future reference.**

**As a slight spoiler, I'll tell you guys the names of the two other weapons. The trench knives are called the "Soshi Kiba", or Element Fangs. The butterfly daggers are called "Nijitanken" or rainbow daggers. Their abilities are practically the opposites, and the both have something to do with artificial Kekkei Genkai. They will be used in full during the fight to get to Gato that will be coming up. It turns out that Naruto's hunch was right. Another spoiler, Naruto's opponent will be a rouge Iwa jonin, and Hinata's opponent will be a rouge Kumo jonin. You guys will get to see those fights in a few chapters.**

**Unfortunately, the daily omake will not be happening today. It seemed that the Root members have learned that Naruto and Hinata are out on a mission, so they have enough sense as to not try and kill themselves with the door when the person that they are trying to get to is not even there. Sorry.**

**(Secretly, I just couldn't think of anything that I deemed was good enough to put in the omake. So send me some more ideas! Remember, I usually don't want outright slaughter. Slaughter is fine, but I want it to be funny too. I know that a lot of you guys will be disappointed, but I can't write something if there is nothing in my head. So I need inspiration! Just name a generally funny but dangerous video game if you can't think of a specific thing. Who knows, it just might give me a crazy idea or two!)**


	17. Chapter 16: Weapons Talk

**(A/N) We are back. I finally got all of the achievements in Storm 3 yesterday, and I am quite happy about that. **

**(Ignore this part if you are not interested in or do not have Storm 3)**

**For those of you who are having trouble with getting an S rank in the final battle, what you need to do is first eat a thunder lunch before the battle. If you don't, there is pretty much no way to get an S-rank on this fight. Also, choose the hero pallet and put as many wonder elixirs as you can into one of the slots. Those restore a full bar of health each, but you will only be able to use them during the first and last phases of the fight. Start the fight and choose hero in the ultimate decision. Target Roshi first and take him out. The other two will follow suit quickly. Use a wonder elixir right before you finish off the last character and you are guaranteed an S rank in that phase. Then during the next phase, which is by far the hardest phase, target Isobu then Matatabi. Isobu's rollout will get in the way if you go after Matatabi first. Next take out Kokuo, as Saiken is no threat whatsoever. Then Son Goku and Chomei come in and it gets tricky. Take out Son Goku first as fast as possible. You WILL get hit by some of Chomei's wind blasts, but if you have kept your health up, then it shouldn't be a problem. Once it's just you and Chomei, start spamming the hell out of Fuma shuriken. They will negate the wind blasts. DO NOT go in for a direct attack, as you will get hit pretty hard. Use your assist to speed it along. Once you have beaten that portion of the battle and have gotten at least an A rank on it, your home clear. The next phase of the fight has you in full bijuu mode, and is pretty easy. All you have to do is block all of the beast's attacks, and when they start to charge chakra, immediately use the Tailed Beast Bomb on them. With the thunder lunch it does one and a half bars of damage, meaning you can kill each beast in two shots each. The only thing that you shouldn't block is Chomei's special, as it goes through your guard. The last phase is a simple ground fight against Obito, so if you know how to Chakra dash cancel right, then it will be a snap. Do the action commands and watch the most epic punch in history, and you should have your S rank if you didn't lose much health in any of the fights.**

**The seven swordsman fight has a little trick that you have to do to get an S rank in the starting fights. I still recommend the thunder lunch/ hero pallet thing I said before, but instead of just slaughtering the seven swordsman, you have to actually slaughter the white zetsu clones that appear. In each of the fights, kill around twenty or so white zetsu before killing the swordsman and you will get your S rank. The Zabuza fight shouldn't be a problem.**

**So now I just have to play a whole lot online. I would do so much better online if there was no lag. The lag interferes with my ability to time the chakra dash cancels correctly, forcing me to waste subs. But whatever. Feel free to leave me a message that your one of my fans if you ever fight me online. My gamertag is Slice N Dicer8 (obviously) and my ninja card is Angel of the Hyuuga Clan with the picture of Hinata leaning in that red sundress. That was the last card that I got, and is my favorite, other than the one that is the same as my profile picture on this website.**

**(Stop ignoring)**

**You guys really headed my call and sent in some great suggestions. Unfortunately some of them were from games that I haven't played, so I won't be able to use those recommendations. However you have given me enough ideas that I really don't need to ask for any more for a while, but feel free to keep sending them in. I love the reviews!**

**Let me go over some of them:**

**Nc-chan: I do own Pokemon Mystery dungeon, and love the game. I have tried (keyword "tried") to steal from the Kecleon store before, and it didn't end well. I like the idea for the omake, and will probably implement it in the future.**

**Pfc Slugger: I do love both Borderlands games, but they would be a little tricky to get something that fits perfectly for the omake. I will think about it though.**

**Rinnegan97: Just to be clear, Naruto and Hinata, as well as Shino, Fu, and Yugito, are all now eighteen and have eighteen year old bodies. They henge into their previous thirteen year old selves when they want to stay undercover around those who don't know their secret. Zabuza fought against said eighteen year old Naruto. As for Naruto and Hinata's looks, please refer to chapter 2 for their generic new ninja look. Hinata will change colored tank-tops every day, but that is what they will look like for the majority of the story unless I have them change into something specific, as I did for their date. The only new addition to both of their outfits from chapter 2 is that they both have a leaf headband tied around their arm, like Shikamaru wears his.**

**DanteShindo: I have never played any of the Mass effect games (I probably should though), but yes I did say no outright slaughter. Angry Birds is a good idea though, and I will consider it. I have also not played Blazblue, but I have considered buying it multiple times, so maybe in the future.**

**Dis Lexic: First of all, I like your name. Second, I haven't played Bayonetta, so no luck there.**

**Several people: Yugioh and Pokemon have always been highly recommended, and they will get in. However, I am saving them for special editions, as I love both franchises to much to give them any less.**

**NeoHummel: I have watched No More Heroes being played before, and I liked what I saw, but I do not own it so I regretfully can't put it into the omake. (I saw how the protagonist charges his beamsword. Enough said, I like the game)**

**And those are the reviews I wish to answer. But enough of this A/N, as it has gone on far too long. I should get to a record length chapter today, just because of this A/N. You guys wanted longer chapters, right? Well you never said that the story itself had to be the reason for its length. Just joking. I have recently been averaging 3000-some words per chapter, with the combined A/Ns being around 1000 words, the story being 2000 words, and the omake being a few hundred. I like this length, as it takes me around two hours total to type. If I made longer chapters, then I wouldn't be updating every day as I currently do. I prefer doing what I'm doing, as I don't like making my fans wait while I have something typed up, so I publish shorter chapters, at a more frequent rate.**

**So enough is enough, on with the story!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 16: Weapons talk

A few hours after setting up their temporary camp, much to the joy of the banshee, and to the groaning disappointment to everybody else, Sasuke woke up. He got up and surveyed the situation he was in. He noticed Sakura sitting next to him with hearts in her eyes, and Kakashi and Kiba sitting by a fire. He then noticed Naruto, Hinata, and a strange girl sitting beside the man that he recognized as the one that threw him into a tree. He noticed that the man was unconscious, and that his sword was lying next to him. He also noticed the weapons on Naruto and Hinata's backs.

Sasuke walked up and over to the group by the man, and he said to Naruto "What are you doing here dobe? And where did you two steal those weapons from? Not that it matters, give them here, such fine weapons belong in the hands of the Uchiha."

Naruto and Hinata just ignored the emo, hoping that he would go away, but they had no such luck. Sasuke saw that he was being ignored, so he decided to take what he thought was rightfully his. He grabbed both Kadouken and Shin'en, and ripped them off the sashes that held them onto Naruto and Hinata's backs. Naruto and Hinata both whipped around to face Sasuke when they felt their weapons being removed, and they shouted "What the hell do you think you are doing!"

Sasuke laughed and said "I'm taking what is rightfully mine of course. You should be happy that you two found weapons that are so fitting for an Uchiha."

Naruto and Hinata were about to rip Sasuke limb from limb when he suddenly screamed and dropped the two weapons. His left hand, which held the Kadouken, was bleeding heavily. Sasuke held his arm up to examine what happened and he saw that the blood was being produced from a series of deep cuts that spiraled up his arm. He tried to move his right arm so that he could bandage his new wounds, but he found that it was completely immobile. He then noticed that he couldn't feel any chakra in his body. He glared at Naruto and Hinata and yelled "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU TWO IDIOTS DO?"

Just then a deep voice spoke up and said "It wasn't them." They all turned to the voice to find Zabuza sitting upright. He continued saying "They didn't do anything to you. The weapons decided that you were not worthy to wield them."

Sasuke just stared at Zabuza in a rage and Hinata asked "What do you mean Zabuza-san? We have not put any trap seals onto our weapons yet and they still hurt him. Not that I'm complaining."

Zabuza sighed and said "You two have heard of the sentient blade Samehada, as it came up in conversation during our battle. I said that it chose who would be able to wield it. Samehada is a very picky weapon, and will usually only allow those whose chakra it finds tasty to wield it. What happened is along the same lines as that. Your weapons, while not completely being sentient, are semi-sentient, meaning they decide who is worthy to wield their power. If the one who holds it is unworthy, then they will lash out to be free from the unworthy one. Your blades obviously deemed this brat as unworthy. The spiral laceration comes from the Kadouken. I assume that it still had some of Naruto's wind chakra in it, so it used that, causing a similar wound to what the full powered attack did to me. And I assume that now the brat cannot move his right arm, or use any chakra for the time being. That is because of the Shin'en. Essentially, he is now a crippled civilian in terms of strength, and he will be until his chakra reestablishes itself from the disruption effect of Shin'en. Naruto, Hinata, please pick up your weapons and hand them to me. I would like to see if I am a worthy weaponsmaster in their eyes."

Naruto and Hinata walked over to where Sasuke had dropped their weapons, shoved Sasuke out of the way and picked up their respective weapons. They then walked back over to Zabuza. Naruto handed him Kadouken first. Zabuza held it in his hand for a moment, before handing it back to Naruto. He said "It respects me, but I feel that it does not wish to be used by me. I think I earned its respect by taking a Rasenkadou and still remaining standing for a moment after. It recognizes my strength and willpower, but it does not acknowledge where my heart lies."

Hinata's eyes widened when he said this and she asked "You can tell that much by holding it for a brief moment?"

Zabuza let out his gruff laugh and said "I have been a swordsmaster for many, many years. All weapons have their own heart, but it takes a master to feel their heart. A weapon is not a tool, but an extension of yourself. Since these weapons are semi-sentient, it is much easier to feel what they feel. In time you two will be able to listen to the heart of your weapons. Now please hand me Shin'en. I do not expect it to go as well though."

Hinata handed him Shin'en, and he held it for a moment. He grimaced and handed it quickly back to Hinata. He then said "Shin'en is really an ironic name for that kusarigama. Being called an abyss would make people think that those of evil heart could use it freely. It is really the opposite though. If I had held it for a moment longer, it would have delved into the evils of my past and done something rather nasty to me. The fact that you can wield it as beautifully as you can is a testament to the purity of your heart. That weapon will reject anyone who holds evil in their heart. I suspect what it did to the brat was a warning though. I think that it is telling him that if he follows down the wrong path in life, then he will lose everything. Now, can you two-"

"NUMBING MY ARM AND MAKING ME LOSE MY CHAKRA WAS A WARNING?! GIVE THAT HERE AND LET ME TELL IT WHAT I THINK" screamed Sasuke as he grabbed Shin'en with his left hand. Suddenly his body went completely limp, and he fell to the ground with a thud. The only things that he could move were his eyes, which dashed about in his anger.

Zabuza laughed and said "See, it was just a warning. Anyways, what I was about to ask was if you two could hold each other's weapons."

Naruto said "We can hold each other's weapons, but holding them just feels wrong, like that they respect us, but they would rather be in the hands of their proper owners. The feeling is not as intense for our other special weapons though."

"That means that Kadouken respects Hinata's strength, determination, and the nobility of her heart, and Shin'en acknowledges the lack of evil in your heart. That alone is very interesting to me since you merged with the kyuubi, yet you didn't pick up any of his inherent evil. However they obviously prefer their rightful owners. But you mentioned other special weapons? I can see the daggers on Hinata's hips, but what about you Naruto, and what makes these weapons special?"

Naruto sheathed Kadouken and grinned, then reached into his pouch and took out his trench knives. Hinata strapped Shin'en onto her back, and unsheathed her butterfly daggers. Zabuza's eyes widened once more and he said "Are both of those what I think they are? If so, where the hell did you find a total of four legendary weapons?"

Hinata giggled and said "Yes these are what you think they are. My daggers are really the Nijitanken, and Ruto-kun's trench knives are really the Soshi Kiba. We found all four of these weapons on a weapon rack in the vault of our home, the Namikaze compound."

Zabuza muttered "Amazing" before saying clearly "And can they really do what I've heard that they can do?"

Hinata giggled and nodded, then said "Would you like a demonstration of the Soshi Kiba? I have not run into any Kekkei Genkai users, so my Nijitanken can only use my own elements currently."

Zabuza grinned and said "I would definitely like a demonstration of the Soshi Kiba. And as for running into a Kekkei Genkai user, you already have! Haku would you please come over here and demonstrate your _unique_ ability?"

Haku said "Hai, Zabuza-sama" before creating a mirror of ice.

Kakashi and Kiba had walked over from the fire a little while ago to listen to the conversation, but it was now that Kakashi chose to speak up. He said "You're a Hyoton user? Then you must be from the Yuki clan? I thought that they were extinct."

Hinata frowned and said "Yes, she's from the Yuki clan, but her past is a sore subject for her, so please do not bring it up." Kakashi muttered his apologies to Haku before Hinata continued "I guess since we have a Kekkei Genkai here, I will go first." Hinata then walked over to the mirror before stabbing the ice with both blades. The onlookers watched in awe as the ice was absorbed into the daggers. The normally clear crystal blades flashed blue then sky blue, before settling on a shade of blue in-between the two **(A/N: I will call this shade ice blue)**. The blades then reverted to their clear selves. Hinata then made a slashing motion with one of the daggers. The dagger turned ice blue mid-slash and the blade produced a large icicle that shot out and impaled a tree deeply.

Turning back to her onlookers, Hinata said "Nijitanken's ability is the subjugation and absorption of elemental Kekkei Genkais. It can then reproduce the Kekkei Genkai that it absorbs on my command. Now Ruto-kun, why don't you show them what your Soshi Kiba can do?"

Naruto and Hinata switched places, and Naruto started with an explanation. "My Soshi Kiba have the opposite effect of Hina-chan's Nijitanken. Instead of absorbing Kekkei Genkai, it creates them using the elements of the wielder. The more elements the wielder has, the more variations that can be created. I have two elements and one sub element. So let's say I take my fire element and combine it with my wind element. This is the result."

Naruto first channeled his fire chakra through the blades, causing it to glow white with heat. He then channeled his wind through it, causing the blade to take on green hue. The blades then extended a blades out the edges **(Think Asuma's wind blades) **that constantly changed between green, yellow, and red. "I call this element plasma, and it has the unique property of melting through everything that I've tried to cut with it." He walked over to a tree and made a quick slash through it. The tree fell over from the clean cut, but where it was cut was completely charred to a crisp, and was glowing with embers. "That is what happens when fire gets combined with wind, but wind with fire makes a completely different element."

Naruto stopped channeling his chakra through the blades and walked back over to the group. Once back, he said "So those are our weapons. The Kadouken, Shin'en, Nijitanken, and Soshi Kiba. How the hell my clan found these, I have no idea. But they work perfectly for Hina-chan and I."

Kakashi closed up the conversation by saying "Well, now that Zabuza is back up, how about we head on to Tazuna's house. We've kept his family waiting long enough."

Naruto grinned and said "Fine, let's go. But you have to carry your team member Kakashi-san. Unfortunately we can't just leave him here. Even if it was his own fault that he can't move."

Kakashi sighed and said "I guess you're right. If the council found out that I left him alone out here while he was incapacitated, then they would have my head. So I guess I have to do the right thing and carry him."

They put out the fire and headed out. It turned out that Tazuna's house was closer than they expected. They got there within half an hour. Tazuna opened his door and shouted "Tsunami, Inari, I'm back!"

Tsunami raced towards her father and gave him a big hug, and said "Thank goodness! You were gone so long that we were worried that some of Gato's men had gotten you."

Tazuna grinned and said "You don't know how close to the truth you were. If it were not for the efforts of a backup team of Konoha ninja, the team that I was sent with and I would have been killed. So allow me to introduce you to everybody! These are Naruto and Hinata, the two backup ninja who saved our lives." He waved his hand as Naruto and Hinata entered. "And this is the team that I was originally sent with." He once again waved his hand as team 7 entered the room. "And finally, these are the bastards who Gato sent to kill us!" He waved his hand for the third time as Zabuza and Haku entered the room.

Tsunami fell over in shock and said "If these are the people who were hired to kill you, then WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY DOING IN OUR HOUSE!"

Zabuza then said "I take offence to that old man. While I may be a bastard, Haku definitely is not. She didn't even fight!"

Tazuna chuckled and said "Sorry, sorry. Anyways, they are on our side now, thanks to Naruto here. He beat Zabuza in a one on one fight! And now they've agreed to help take out Gato. The wave will finally be free and they will be heroes!"

Suddenly, Inari made his presense known by shouting "THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A HERO!" before he bolted upstairs.

Naruto and Hinata were both very upset about what the kid had shouted, and Naruto turned to race after him and knock some sense into the brat. Hinata held him back, and she turned to Tsunami and asked "Why would such a young boy think such a horrible thing?"

Tsunami sighed and motioned for them to all take a seat at the table. They did so, with Kakashi dropping Sasuke to the floor with a thump, and Tsunami began recounting Inari's tale.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap! I decided to reveal Naruto and Hinata's other weapons' abilities earlier than I had originally intended. I hope you like what they can do. It also gave me a chance to give Hinata the Hyoton for her Nijitanken to use. The Kumo-nin that she will be fighting will also have a Kekkei Genkai, so she will get her second one there. I bashed Sasuke a little bit in the chapter and I had a sort of anime-philosophic moment with Zabuza and the blades there. I think that it's a neat idea for a blade to be an extension of yourself.**

**Anyways, I thought of today's omake's idea shortly after I had published yesterday's chapter, so I was really kicking myself for not giving you one, as I know that you all love my omake. Hopefully that won't happen again.**

**Anyways, moving on:**

**()()()()()()()()**

The Wheel of Torture Chapter 8

The root members were excited (or at least as close to excited as their emotionless selves would let them). Some of them had seen Naruto and Hinata walking through the streets, so they figured that the mission that they went on was a short one.

However they did not know that they had seen a pair of shadow clones that decided to not dispel when they had finished their mission for the day, as they wanted to live their short "lives" to the fullest.

So no there was a squad of root at the door once again. They again tried their luck, and of course, they again failed. Today the wheel stopped on "Katamari."

Of course the root members knew Japanese, so when the wheel said "lump", they were seriously confused.

That was when they heard it. A soft NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA **(Those of you who have played Katamari Damacy know what I am talking about)**.

Suddenly there was a flash of light as the royal rainbow desended upon them. Rolling on it was the biggest "lump" that they had ever seen. It was composed of all sorts of random things. From watermelons to Sumo wrestlers, this Katamari had it all!

And soon it had the screaming bodies of root members.

Later that night, people would swear that they heard screaming in the night sky before seeing a beautiful new star that glittered brightly.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's the omake! How I didn't think of Katamari Damacy sooner, I will never know, as it is my all-time favorite game of Japanese randomness that I have ever played! The premise is that the King of all Cosmos got drunk one night, and in a drunken rage he destroyed all of the stars in the night sky. So he assigned his son the prince to take a Katamari and roll up all sorts of beautiful things so that they could be turned into new stars to replace the old. It is so much fun to play, and has a great soundtrack too. I would definitely recommend it or its successor "We Love Katamari". Both are for the PS2, and there is an xbox 360 version called "Beautiful Katamari". So go check one of them out!**

**So until next time,**

**Slice N Dicer**


	18. Chapter 17: Bonds

**(A/N) We are back. I've just finished rereading my entire story, and I am still quite pleased with how few grammatical errors that I have. I must say that I have a problem with using "strait" when "straight" should be used though. But other than that, there are minimal grammatical errors and I think spelling errors are nonexistent, aside from initially misspelling Sheogorath as Sheagorath. Thank you Microsoft word and your spellcheck. That is the only sort of reviewing I do as I type, because no one is a perfect speller, especially with how weird the rules for English are. I am too lazy to go back and reread my chapter when I finish typing it, and I find it fun to spot out the few errors that I have made when I do my reading of my story on fanfiction. For those of you who have written stories, and have not read your own stories without the critical eye of the writer, you should go back and enjoy your own personal genius.**

**Now for some reviews. Please read the first one, but the others are not as important. It goes into some details about Naruto and Hinata's weapons, and some of my preferences when it comes to fan created weapons.**

** .3792: I'm glad that you noticed that Shin'en's ability basically made it an advanced form of Jyuken. Shin'en will be Hinata's primary weapon, but it is not a sword. It is a sickle or Kusarigama. Hinata will use Nijitanken when chakra disruption won't work or she needs elements to help her. I will not have the macabre bone pulse be able to be absorbed by the Nijitanken. I am actually thinking of redeeming Kimimaru later in the story though. He is cool, but his trust is just put in the wrong person. Tsunade will be able to heal him though, and I will probably have Naruto be the one to knock some sense into him. Finally, there is no way that I would just give Naruto a different dimension's weapon, especially Zangetsu. Don't get me wrong, I love Bleach, and I love Zangetsu as a character, but his ability is sort of lame. Getsuga Tensho is the only attack that Ichigo can use for the majority of the series, and the hyper-speed that Ichigo uses against Byakuya is never really seen again after that fight. I like unique abilities, and an energy blast is pretty standard. While Rasenkadou is pretty similar to Getsuga Tensho, it is much more versatile, as it can use Naruto's elements to have variations. And I never said that the Rasenkadou was Kadouken's only ability, did I? I also prefer unique weapons, as in swords are really boring and overused, which is why out of the four, there is only one sword. I have never seen a kusarigama used by a main character in any Naruto fanfic that I have read, and the way Hanzo uses it in Storm 3 is badass. So I gave Hinata one of those, with an ability that complements the standard Hyuuga style of fighting. The trench knives I have seen used before, but they are a very unique weapon in themselves, which is one of the reasons why Asuma is cool. And finally the butterfly daggers I got from Taki from soul caliber, as I have said before. Of all of my weapons, I would say Shin'en is by far the most unique, because it is a Kusarigama and its abilities don't focus on manipulating elements, although it is made of chakra conducting metal, so Hinata can channel her chakra natures through it. I forgot to mention that she has foxfire as well, but hers is even more unique than Naruto's. Her foxfire is lavender colored and has properties akin to phoenix flames, meaning they heal what they burn if she wants them to. How did you think she stabilized Zabuza so fast?**

**Legionary Prime: I do have to admit that Deadpool would be perfect for the omake. He is now on my to-do list.**

** 3154: I do like the goron idea, and I have added it to my list of things to do in the omake. I have not played DMC though.**

**Finally, Hinata will not be using the standard Jyuken (gentle fist) when she fights without her weapons. She will be using the style that she created, Juho (gentle step). It is much more fluid than the precise Jyuken. And instead of canon Hinata's Juho: Shoshiken (Gentle Step: Twin Lion Fists), she will have Juho: Tsuinkitsuneken, which translates to Gentle Step: Twin Fox Fists. It will be similar to the lion variety, but her fists will have a lavender fox head shroud, and it is more powerful than the lion variety.**

**So enough rambling, and on with the show we go!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 17: Bonds

Tsunami finished up with the story of Inari and his adoptive father **(You all should know it by now) **and silence hung in the air. Naruto and Hinata then got up and started to head upstairs. Hinata turned and said to Tsunami grimly "We are going to have a few words with your son. If he thinks that he knows pain, then he is sorely mistaken. Ask Kakashi-san for the details of our lives if you wish. Try not to be too horrified by our stories though. Our pain is much worse."

**(Meanwhile in Amegakure)**

A certain orange haired Akatsuki leader was meditating in the rain that was falling gently down on a statue high up on the highest tower **(The place that he meets with Obito)**. Suddenly he felt a jolt run through him. He said to himself "It would seem that someone has acknowledged their great pain. I sense that the pain that they hold rivals the great pains of my past. I must go out and find whoever holds this pain. We shall see whose pain is greater."

With that said he walked inside the tower and said to Konan who was waiting for him "Come, someone has acknowledged a great pain. We must go and see what pain they have felt. I am the god of pain, and I will see if their pain is worth acknowledging." They then walked deeper into the tower to wake the other five paths.

**(I know that I said that I wanted to leave the Akatsuki out of this for the time being, but Nagato is too cool to be ignored. His pain senses were tingling. I intend on redeeming him though, and that will not involve him dying. But it will take some time for him to find Naruto and Hinata, and the confrontation will probably happen after the Chunin Exams)**

**(Back in the land of waves)**

Naruto and Hinata got a shudder down their spines, as if somebody had just acknowledged their pain, and wished to test their own against it, but they ignored the feeling **(Hey, Naruto and Hinata have the pain sense too!). **They continued heading upstairs, and they entered Inari's room. They found it empty, but they noticed that the window was slightly open. They exited through the window and made their way onto the roof. They found Inari sitting on the roof, crying. Hinata and Naruto then took a seat next to him on either side.

"I see that we are not the only ones with a special place with a good view to go to when we want to escape the pains of our life, Ruto-kun." Said Hinata sadly.

Where they were sitting on the roof looked through a clearing in the forest down onto the village. It was quite a beautiful sight, especially since the sun was beginning to set.

Naruto smiled sadly and said "I was four when I found our spot on top of my dad's head, but I shared it with you on that fateful day when I turned five. Did I ever tell you that the day that changed both of our lives for the better was my birthday? It must have been some sort of divine birthday present. Hard to believe that that was eight years ago."

Inari noticed something that bothered him in his words, so he said "It sounds like you are saying that you are thirteen years old. But that's impossible, you have to be at least eighteen."

Naruto gave a dry laugh and said "Well spotted, kid. Both Hina-chan and I have lived in this world for thirteen years, but our bodies are aged to eighteen. We heard your story of pain from your mother, so allow us to tell you the story of our pain. It all began the day that I was born, October tenth, thirteen years ago. My mother was the holder of the nine tailed fox, and that is where our troubles started. You see, if a female container of a demon gets pregnant, the seal holding the demon will weaken during childbirth. My father, the yondaime Hokage, knew this, and he set up every precaution possible to prevent the Kyuubi's escape. But even still, an evil man found out where my mom was giving birth and slipped inside the barrier where my mom was being kept for childbirth. I had just been born, and my father was about to finish resealing the Kyuubi back into my mom, when the man slaughtered the guards, and took me hostage. My father was able to rescue me and take me to a safe place, but the man was able to get my mom. He took her out of the village, and ripped the Kyuubi from my mother, before placing it under his control. He ordered it to kill my mother, but my dad arrived just in time to save her life. However, my mom was already dying. If it wasn't for my clan's renowned vitality, she would have already been dead. My dad took her to where he had taken me, and left her there while he went off to fight the man. He succeeded in wounding the man, removing the kyuubi from his control, and forcing him to retreat, but he still had the problem of a rampaging demon. Using his special jutsu, he teleported it away from the village, and then teleported me and my mom to where it was. Even in her weakened state, my mom was able to hold down the Kyuubi long enough for my dad to prepare something special. He prepared to seal the Kyuubi within me. The Kyuubi noticed what they were doing and tried to kill me, but my mom and dad shielded me with their bodies. With the last of his strength, my dad asked the sandaime Hokage, who had just arrived, that I was to be viewed as a hero by the village. They then finished sealing the Kyuubi and themselves into me."

Naruto paused to take a breath of air, before continuing "The sandaime took me back to the village, but the civilians did not follow the fourth's final wish. Instead, as I grew up, I was beaten and refused services that a child should normally have. Stores refused to do any business with me, and I was given rotten food if they even gave anything to me. I was kicked out of the orphanage when I was four, and the sandaime pitied me, so he gave me a rundown apartment. It was around this time that I met Hina-chan for the first time. I was wandering through the village when I saw some older boys kicking someone on the ground. They were beating up Hina-chan for being a part of a clan that she wished to have nothing to do with. I stood up for her, and was promptly beaten up for it, but it got them off of Hinata, and they were satisfied, so they took off. Hina-chan was going to check up on me, but her caretaker who had just been watching us get beat up took her away. This continued until my fifth birthday came around. That was when my life started to change for the better."

He took another breath of air before continuing "On my birthdays, it was the annual festival of the fourth stopping the Kyuubi from destroying the village. It was also the day of the annual "Demon Hunts". I was running away from a crowd when I accidently bumped into Hinata. They crowd caught up and were about to kill me when Hinata stopped them. They turned on her. However I got close enough to death that I met the Kyuubi that was inside me for the first time. We made a deal, and I freed him from his seal, and in the process merged with him. I used my new powers to slaughter the crowd, before taking Hina-chan to my special spot on top of the Fourth's stone head. She was intrigued by what had happened, as I then had my tails and ears. She wanted tails and ears too, so I offered her to become my mate for life. She accepted, and I transformed her, but in the process, our bodies became those of eighteen year olds. We were then asked by the Kyuubi to be put under a special transformation until we were strong enough to be our true selves. We accepted and we began living our lives under a mask. It was not until recently that we stopped, and revealed our true selves to everybody. While some people now accept us for who we are, we are still treated horribly by the general civilian populace. However we are not dwelling in our pain, and we are working to change everybody's opinions of us. I follow my father's wishes to become stronger and live a good life, as he was a hero that saved our village and gave us the chance to live."

"But he died! He failed!" blurted out Inari.

Hinata laughed softly and said "He may have died, but he certainly did not fail. None of us would be here if he hadn't given up his life to save everybody. His only regret was that he would not be able to see his son grow up and become strong, a regret that is no longer valid."

"What do you mean?" asked Inari.

"This is what she means!" said Naruto as he flew through hand signs and shouted "**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!**"

In a puff of smoke, standing there was Minato and Kushina. Kushina immediately bent down and gave Inari a big hug. She then said "There, there, you should stop thinking of what you have lost and think of what you still have."

"Inari's eyes widened at the strangers actions and he asked "Who are these people, Naruto?"

Naruto grinned and said "These are my parents. They sealed themselves within me to help control the Kyuubi's power, but they didn't have the chance to help with the odd way that I gained his power. So now I can summon them at any time."

Inari then stuttered out "But…but…that means that you still have them!"

Minato smiled sadly and said "He still has us, but he does not truly have us. We are still dead. We are just the remnants of the chakra that we sealed inside of him. He cannot keep us out indefinitely, and we will eventually fade, but it does give us the chance to see how our son has grown up, and allows us to help him in his times of need. We are here, but at the same time, we are not. We cannot give him a younger sibling, or dote on him like all parents should be able to."

Inari pouted and said "But something is better than nothing."

Kushina just said "Exactly! And you still have something, and you always will! You have your mom and Tazuna. They are your loving family too! Naruto had absolutely nothing the first few years of his life. His first bond was formed with two kind makers of ramen who knew both of us. I was their best customer, and now he is too. If it were not for their kindness, Naruto would have starved to death a long time ago. But now Naruto is making more bonds, and has found his greatest one in Hinata. If he never met her, I don't even want to know what his life would have been like! Naruto treasures each and every one of his bonds, and that is what keeps him going. If you treasure the bonds that you have, then you will never lose hope. Heroes really do exist, you know. So allow the heroes to come and save your land!"

Inari let out one last big sniff and said "Thank you. All of you. I will treasure my bonds with my Oka-san and Jiji, and I won't give up hope. I believe that you can help save the wave and become true heroes, just like your father was. But you only told me your story, nii-san. I would like to hear nee-chan's story. Wasn't she from a clan? If so, shouldn't her life have been a happy one?"

Hinata smiled sadly and said "Yes I was from a clan. In fact I was heiress to the "greatest" clan in Konoha, the Hyuuga. But that was exactly what made my life horrible. You see, the Hyuuga clan is very traditional, and expect you to be hard and emotionless. I was the exact opposite of that. I was always to kind and forgiving for the clan's tastes, and to gentle to fight. My only saving grace was that my mother was just like me. When I was three years old, I was kidnapped by ninja who were after my clan's special eyes. My father saved my life, but due to political complications, my father's twin had to give up his life in recompense for the man that my father had killed. Both my father and my cousin blamed me for his death. Soon after, my mother died. I still believe that the clan elders poisoned her, but there was no proof as to how she died. After she died, my life became horrible. Every day, the clan elders would brutally train me until I could no longer move. No matter what I did, it was never enough to please them. I lived my life in fear of my own family. The only ones who treated me nicely were the branch members of my clan. But if any of them were ever seen treating me nicely, they were severely punished. I gradually had all of my possessions taken away from me, until only the few that I had hidden in a special place remained. I was forced to sleep on an uncomfortable mat. I contemplated running away several times, but I knew that would never work. You cannot hide from the all-seeing eyes of my clan. But then one fateful day, I saved Ruto-kun's life, and he saved mine, along with making me like him. I had a reason to live from then on, so I took whatever my clan threw at me. My life changed because of Ruto-kun, and he freed me from the prison of my own home. Now I live quite happily with Ruto-kun in his father's clan compound, and my life has been worth living because of him. I continue to live outside of the Hyuuga's oppression, and I have become strong to ensure the safety of those that I hold dear."

Inari once again had tears in his eyes when he said "To be treated as trash by strangers is one thing, but to be treated as trash by your own family? I cannot even imagine what that must have felt like. How are you both able to remain so strong when you have had such horrible lives?"

Naruto and Hinata just smiled and they said together "By grabbing onto the bonds that we have and never letting them go, no matter what!"

Inari wiped the tears from his eyes and said with great determination "Then I will hold onto the bonds that I have, and I will never let them go! My life has been amazing compared to yours', and I refuse to let the life that I have been given get away from me!"

Naruto, Hinata, Kushina, and Minato all smiled at the kid's newfound determination, and Naruto said "Just keep thinking that, and never give up hope. There is always the hope that a Hero can come and salvage even the worst of situations. Now let's get back down to your mother, I'm sure that she has been worried about you."

They all climbed back down off of the roof, and made their way downstairs. Inari immediately ran towards his mother and gave her a huge hug, saying "I'm so sorry at how I treated you after Tou-san's death! Will you ever forgive me? I don't want to lose the bonds that I have been blessed with."

Tsunami was a bit shocked by the sudden change in his behavior, but she smiled and said "There is nothing to be forgiven, Inari. You were just going through a tough spot in your life, that's all."

Inari smiled brilliantly at her and said "Thank you so much Kaa-san! I will work hard to support the family, and I believe nii-san and nee-chan will be the heroes to save our village!"

It was at this point that Naruto, Hinata, Kushina, and Minato made their way down the stairs. Tsunami turned to them and said "Nii-san? Nee-chan? He is calling you brother and sister now? I heard what Kakashi said about your lives, but he didn't go into that much detail, even if what he said was horrific. How did you ever manage to get my boy to do such a complete 180 from how he was acting before? And who are these two? They were not here before."

Hinata giggled and said "We just made him realize the bonds that he already had. And these people are my Ruto-kun's par-"

She was interrupted by Kakashi and Team 7 walking through the door saying "We are back from the village. We got the information we needed. Now we just-"Kakashi cut himself off when he noticed Minato and Kushina standing there. Kakashi stood there for a moment before saying "Minato-sensei? Kushina-san? How?"

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. Quite the emotional chapter there. I retold Naruto's past and told a little of Hinata's, and I made Inari see the light. Did you guys think that I was all laughs and giggles? I can do the emotional stuff too, you know. But of course I had to leave it on a cliffhanger. In the next chapter, Kakashi gets to meet his sensei again, and will get some sense knocked into him about moping about his past.**

**Anyways, onto the omake.**

**()()()()()()()()**

Wheel of Torture Chapter 9

The root members were at it once again. So of course they were failing once again. Apparently learning their lesson was an emotion, because they certainly didn't have it.

Today the wheel stopped on "Angry Birds".

The sky was filled with the sounds of angry tweeting, and the root members just stood there in shock as to what they saw flying at them.

There was a horde of rotund birds of all sizes flying at them.

The birds smashed into the root members, shattering their bones like toothpicks.

The backup root who watched the battalion get smashed by a horde of round feather balls quickly retreated back to their base with one message to their leaders:

"Chickens are not the only member of the feathered kind that they should fear."

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's that. Special thanks to DanteShindo for suggesting Angry Birds. I figure if those bird can break through solid stone walls, then bones should be no problem at all. And of course now the root members will not look at any kind of bird the same way again.**

**Until next time,**

**Slice N Dicer**


	19. Chapter 18: Kakashi's Plight

**(A/N) We are back. A special thanks to Xana100 for telling me some of my story's faults in a constructive way. I have gone back and made my previous chapters better by adding line breaks and bolding transitions. Hopefully that will make it easier for my new readers happier with the ease of reading.**

**As always, thanks for the continued reviews. Keep them up!**

**I don't really have anything else to say, so on with the chapter!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 18: Kakashi's Plight

Minato just smiled at Kakashi's reaction to seeing him. However, Naruto and Kushina were rolling on the floor laughing. Hinata and Tsunami were just giggling at the face that Kakashi was making **(Again, think Enel's face, but with Kakashi's mask on)**. Team 7 were just confused as to who the strangers were.

Kakashi gathered himself and asked "Is that really you, Minato-sensei?"

Minato's smile broadened, and he said "Of course it is."

Kakashi stuttered out "But…but…how?"

"A side effect of the way that my son took control of the Kyuubi's power. I had sealed myself and Kushina into Naruto to help him control the Kyuubi, but due to his unorthodox method of taking his power, our powers were not used up, so now he can summon us whenever he wants." Explained Minato.

Suddenly, a light bulb went on inside Kiba's head. He suddenly shouted "WAIT A MINUTE! SON? KYUUBI? YOUR NARUTO'S FATHER? THAT MEANS YOU'RE THE YONDAIME!"

"Yes, I'm the Yondaime Hokage, but that matters little. Anyways Kakashi, you've grown from the shrimp that you used to be when I was your sensei. And you have a team of your own now. However, you still haven't gotten over what happened with Obito and Rin. I've watched Naruto interact with you, and most of the time when it wasn't you helping him as an ANBU, then it was when you were standing at the memorial stone. You really need to but the past behind you and look to the future. Maybe get a girlfriend or something."

Kakashi looked depressed and said "How can I move past it, it's my fault that both of them died. If it were not for my own lack of belief in my teammates, then I could have saved Obito. And-"

Kakashi was interrupted by Kushina's fist smashing his head in. She then said "If it's your fault for their deaths, then it's my fault for the deaths the day of the Kyuubi attack. I was the Kyuubi's jinchuriki, so their deaths fall on me! And do you see me moping about it? No! I look towards the future, and I see my son as the greatest Hokage that the leaf has ever seen! With my daughter-in-law by his side! They will make Konoha the strongest that it has ever been! So get a grip Kakashi, and look to the future!"

Naruto blushed at what she said and said "Do you really think that, mom?"

Kushina turned to Naruto and said "Of course I do sweetie. After all, it is the parents' job to support their child's dreams. And I do believe that you will the strongest Hokage that the leaf has ever known. Just keep training and hold Hinata-chan close, and you will make it."

Sasuke then chose to speak up, saying "As if that dobe could ever become Hokage. He is weak. The position is much better suited for someone like an elite Uchiha. In fact, I-"

Sasuke was interrupted by Kushina's fist smashing his jaw, while at the same time, Hinata sent several lighting fast Jyuken strikes to key points in his body, immobilizing it once again. Kushina broke his jaw, but he was still conscious.

Kushina looked down at him and said "My son is not weak. He is much stronger than you will ever be!"

Hinata also looked down and said "You were about to insinuate that you were going to become Hokage. That would never happen. The Hokage has to be completely selfless and humble, two things that you are the complete opposite of, and two things that my Ruto-kun is wholeheartedly. Never say such a thing again in my presence. It disgusts me to think of you being Hokage. You would ruin the village."

Minato then spoke up, saying "There is a reason why there has never been an Uchiha or Hyuuga Hokage. The reason being that they seem to have inborn arrogance. There are four exceptions to that. For the Hyuuga, they are Hitomi, and her daughter here, Hinata. For the Uchiha, it was in fact Itachi who would have the greatest chance of becoming Hokage, along with his best friend Shisui. I believe that Itachi is not as evil as everyone makes him out to be. Someone gave him no other option than to slaughter his entire clan. I am rather glad that he did it actually, as the Uchiha's arrogance would one day ruin the leaf. However, from what I've seen, he made a bad choice in letting his little brother live."

The banshee then spoke up, screeching "But Sasuke-kun is the strongest ninja in the leaf!"

Naruto and Hinata again winced at the volume of her voice, before Kushina spoke up saying "I swear, you are worse than all of Minato-kun's fangirls combined. That brat is nowhere near the strongest in Konoha. That title would be held by the Hokage, and then he would be followed by Naruto and Hinata here. Then would be Kakashi and Guy."

Kiba's eyes widened at what she said and he asked Kakashi "Are Naruto and Hinata really stronger than you?"

Kakashi closed his eye for a moment, before sighing and saying "Together, definitely. One on one, it would be a close match since I have years of experience on them, but I also don't know the full extent of their strength, as they have done a very good job at hiding it. Naruto only revealed his swordsmanship, strength, and speed during his fight with Zabuza, and that's all I have seen of them fighting. And even still, he could have easily been holding something back. Remember, the key to being a successful ninja is using deception. However, I am in the bingo book, which I am sure that he has read, and my reputation as the copy ninja is pretty widely known. So they both have the advantage on knowledge. Overall, their advantages outweigh mine, so I can assume that they would win in a fight against me. Besides, my chakra reserves are much too low to even think about outlasting them, especially since I gather that they cannot run out of chakra, at least that I've seen."

Minato smiled at Kakashi and said "That was an expert analysis, Kakashi, given the information that you have. I have trained you well apparently. But yes, you would lose to both of them in a one on one. But you are only wrong when you said it would be close. Your stamina is just too low for it to be a close match. They could easily send wave after wave of shadow clones that have the same chakra level as you do at your max. They have numbers on their side. You should seriously think about training up your stamina, Kakashi.

Kakashi again sighed and said "I know that stamina has always been my weak point, along with my small chakra reserves, but training with Guy is a bit much."

Naruto heard this and spoke up "I recommended to Kiba that he train with Guy, so why don't you join him? That way there is someone to resist Guy's flames of youth, so that Kiba doesn't become corrupted by their youthfulness."

**(Meanwhile in Konoha)**

"Guy-sensei, someone is trying to prevent us from spreading our youth!" said a green spandex wearing mini-Guy.

"I know my dear pupil, and we must not let our flames of youth be put out by such negativity! If we cannot spread our youth to at least one person today, then we shall do 100 laps around Konoha on our hands!" replied the original.

"And if we cannot do that, then we must do 1000 pushups!" replied Lee.

Guy shot Lee his brilliant smile, and said "I like your way of thinking, Lee! Come, let us show our dear village the power of our youth!"

"GUY-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GUY-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

The two youthful men crashed together in a hug of youthful proportions, leaving Konoha to experience the Sunset Genjutsu of Eternal Youth.

**(Back in the Land of Waves)**

Naruto, Kakashi, Hinata, Kushina, and Minato suddenly shuddered. Naruto spoke up and said "I think that we were just lucky enough to miss another show of youth in Konoha."

Kakashi spoke up and said "I agree. But I guess you are right. I will take Kiba when we get back and we will train with Guy in our spare time. Anyways, Minato-sensei, Kushina-san, I have to thank you. I think I'm finally out of the funk that I was in before. I have been letting my skills dull recently, so now I need to train to get them back up to par. Anyways, as I was saying before I noticed you two, my team and I have gone down to the village for some information. The place is a complete mess, and the town's only hope is for the bridge to be completed. Apparently Gato is keeping the whole land of waves under a tyrant's fist. So here is what we will do. My team will stay with Tazuna as he works at the bridge. Meanwhile, Zabuza and Haku will work on finding out where Gato has holed himself up in. Naruto and Hinata will be helping my team with the bridge until Zabuza locates Gato. When he does, Zabuza, Haku, Naruto, and Hinata will go to where he is and take him out. I have to stress that when you do, you must leave no witnesses. If other nations find out that leaf ninja murdered a business tycoon in cold blood, bad things will happen. Meanwhile, my team will stay here with Tazuna in his house, just in case."

Minato spoke up and said "That's a fine plan. Naruto and Hinata's shadow clones will really speed up the bridge's building process, so instead of having your team help with the bridge, you should find a place to train them instead. They need to be on a level higher than what they currently are if they wish to survive in the ninja world."

Kakashi sighed and said "As always, you are right Minato-sensei. We will get on that right away. It's too late to start on the bridge building today though, so Naruto and Hinata can do whatever." Turning to Hinata, he then said "As much as I don't want you to, can you please heal Sasuke's jaw, and restore movement to his body?"

Now it was Hinata's turn to sigh, and she said "Very well. But do try to train them well, as they are too weak right now, and will die if they cannot get stronger and work as a team."

Hinata then sat next to the still form of Sasuke. She then held her hands over his jaw, and they started to glow with a lavender chakra. In a moment Sasuke's jaw was healed. She then jabbed Sasuke in the spots that she had jabbed him before, giving mobility back to his body. He immediately jumped up and tried to punch Naruto, but was quickly stopped by Minato grabbing his arm, who said in a deathly serious voice "I would not recommend doing that again. While Kakashi might get in trouble with the council if something happens to you that is his fault, I will not. I could easily destroy you, and while they might yell at me a little, they can't do anything to me. And they already know what will happen if they try to do anything to Naruto or Hinata. So, don't do anything stupid again in my presence, if you value your pitiful existence."

Sasuke took his arm back and walked out the door, grumbling. Of course the fangirl followed him, so Kakashi took Kiba and followed them.

Minato looked to Naruto and said "Since we are no longer needed here, we will go back." He and Kushina then vanished in a cloud of smoke.

Hinata looked to Tsunami and Inari and said "I'm sorry about that. Kakashi-san got really unlucky with the people who were put on his team, and as you can see, all of us are not fond of them. Kiba is the only one who is decent. Ruto-kun and I will go and sleep outside so that Kakashi's team can have the house. We really don't mind, so long as we have each other than we will be fine. Besides, we don't trust the emo to try and kill us when we sleep. We will come by tomorrow morning, and you won't see us until then."

With that, Naruto and Hinata walked out the door.

Zabuza spoke up and said "Haku and I will head back to our hideout to gather a few things. We will sleep there so you don't need to worry about us either. We will come back when we have learned of Gato's location."

They then headed out the door.

**(Back with Naruto and Hinata)**

Naruto and Hinata were currently sitting on a branch in the tallest tree in the forest. They had their tails wrapped around each other's, and were enjoying the moment.

Naruto spoke up and said "Well Hina-chan, this mission certainly hasn't gone as expected."

Hinata sighed and said "It would be fine if the emo wasn't such an arrogant prick, and if he didn't have the banshee following his every move. Although Kiba is fine now. Kakashi-san really is unlucky that he was forced to teach Sasuke. If only we could get rid of those civilian council members already, then we wouldn't be having this problem. I looked over Sasuke's file one day when we were pranking ANBU headquarters, and he has failed all of his mental evaluations. Technically, he is not fit to be an active shinobi. It's only because the civilians love him so much that he is here and not in a mental hospital.

"It's pretty obvious that he is not in his right mind," replied Naruto "But to fail all of the mental evaluations is unheard of. He is very unstable. In some ways I can't blame him though. If he went through that Tsukyomi jutsu or whatever it's called, then I can't blame him for being not in the right mind. However, one would think that by having his entire clan slaughtered would humble him, not make him even more arrogant. I have no idea what the civilians see in him, other than the bearer of a dormant Sharingan."

The sun was just finishing setting as they talked, and the sky was turned a beautiful shade of orange by the last bit of sunlight.

Hinata commented on this saying "The sky is so beautiful. It makes you just want to forget about your worries."

Naruto smiled sadly and said "Yes, but our worries will still remain even if we forget about them. We have a lot of work to do before we can go back home, and even more before we can even dream of getting the village fixed to the way it should be."

Hinata looked at Naruto and gave him a soft kiss before saying "Then we won't ever forget about them, and we will look to the future. We will eventually accomplish our goals, and we will do them together, one at a time."

Naruto smiled a genuine smile and said "Thank you Hina-chan. I was feeling a little down, but you always make me feel better. We will look to the future together, and we will never let each other go, no matter what."

Hinata gave Naruto another kiss at this, before saying "So do you want to sleep out here like we said, or Hiraishin back home?"

Naruto smiled warmly and said "I think I would rather just spend the night out here, alone with you. But we won't be able to sleep together in this tree, as we would fall out, so let's find a more pleasant spot."

Hinata had a glowing smile at his answer, and they hopped out of the tree as the sun finished setting. They wandered through the forest a little before they found a clearing full of flowers. They laid down next to each other, and chatted about small things as the stars slowly started to show themselves, and the moon steadily began to rise. They slowly drifted off to sleep to the ambience of the surrounding wildlife and each other's breathing.

Hinata awoke early the next morning to the dawn sun glaring into her eyes. Rubbing the sleep out of them, she kissed Naruto awake, and said "Good morning Ruto-kun. Did you sleep well?"

Naruto smiled and said "I will always sleep well with you next to me."

His response was rewarded with a kiss, and Hinata said "Well I guess we should head back to Tazuna's place. I'm guessing that it is around six right now, so Kakashi should be awake. I would like to speak with him about his team."

Naruto nodded and said "Same. So let's get going."

They headed back to Tazuna's and knocked on his door. Kakashi was the one who answered it. He said "Good, your back. I hope it wasn't too much of a trouble for you two to sleep outside?"

Hinata giggled and said "No it wasn't. Thanks for your concern though. We both slept great outside in a beautiful flower filled clearing. In all honesty, we could have just used the Hiraishin to go back to our house, but Ruto-kun wanted to spend the night with just me. We have a guest at our estate."

Kakashi's eye widened at that and he said "You two can use the Hiraishin? And who's your guest?"

Naruto grinned and said "I have mastered the Hiraishin, and Hina-chan is well on her way. But we only use it as a last resort, as I'm sure you know the reasons why. And our guest is Yugito Nii."

"Yes I understand the reasons why, but did you say Yugito? Isn't that the transfer student from Kumo?"

Hinata smiled and said "Yes she is, and while you might be thinking "Why the hell are you letting a foreign ninja into the most secure clan compound in Konoha", I assure you that she is completely fine. In fact, we will let you in on a little secret. She is like us."

Kakashi's eye widened once more and he said "She's a jinchuriki?"

Naruto grinned and said "A former jinchuriki. Now she is a Hanyou like us. Which is precisely the reason why we trust her. She is our sister. She has also told us the real reason for her being in Konoha, and we are working to combat that. She was sent her to spy on the Hyuuga, and to pick out the weakest one for them to capture. Currently, we have the cloud believing that Hinata is the weakest Hyuuga, when in reality, she is the strongest. But you have to keep this a secret. Tell no one. If people know already this information, then they were meant to know it. Also the transfer student from Taki is a Hanyou too."

"Very well, this will be kept a secret. Would you like to step inside now?"

They stepped inside and Naruto spoke up "So how did training with your team go?"

Kakashi gave his eye smile and said "Better than I thought it would, actually. I got them started on the tree climbing exercise, and both Sakura and Kiba completed it pretty quickly. The emo took a little longer, but he got it done. Hell, even Akamaru can do it now. I then started them on the water walking exercise. None of them have it down yet, but they are making good progress, especially Kiba. After seeing you in action, I think his drive has increased tenfold. I had them working until three in the morning, and they were barely able to drag themselves back her to get to bed. I actually had to carry Sakura. I don't expect them to be waking any time soon, so when Tazuna wakes up, feel free to go to the bridge and start helping them. When they do wake up, its back to training for them. I am no longer going to slack off. I will be doing my own training while supervising their's."

"So what sort of training can you do while keeping an eye on them?" asked Hinata.

"I got the idea from seeing one of Guy's favorite youthful self-punishments. I will be doing handstand pushups, while water walking with my hands. That way, I will help my chakra reserves and stamina at the same time."

Naruto grinned and said "Targeting your two weakest points in one simple exercise. Smart. It's good to see you taking your life as a ninja seriously. Now we will just have to work on you being on time. You wouldn't want to show up late to your own funeral, would you?"

Kakashi laughed and said "I don't think that anyone will have to worry about me being late again. The real reason why I was constantly late was that I was always mourning at the memorial stone, and I would lose track of time. But your mom literally knocked some sense into my head, and I won't be doing that again."

At this moment Tazuna walked down the stairs, noticed Naruto and Hinata, and said "Good to see that you're back so early. This way we can get to work sooner. I'm ready to head to the bridge whenever you two are."

"We can go whenever. We had just finished talking with Kakashi-san." Replied Naruto.

"Okay then, let's head out."

Naruto, Hinata, and Tazuna walked out the door and headed to the bridge.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. If you guys are thinking that I made Kakashi seem weak, it is actually because in part one, Kakashi wasn't all that strong. He fainted from chakra exhaustion from his first encounter with Zabuza, and he could only use Raikiri four times a day. So this way, I can have him start getting as strong as his Shippuden-self earlier on. It is also true that Kakashi has never had very good chakra reserves, and his stamina is sub-par too. But I intend to fix that. A few months training with Guy and he will be a new man! (But not in the youthful way, I will not have Guy corrupt Kakashi or Kiba)**

**Anyways, on with the omake!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Wheel of Torture Chapter 10

The root members still hadn't learned that what they had seen were shadow clones, so they were back at the door once again.

As always, they were doomed with failure.

This time the wheel stopped on "Goron Rollout".

Suddenly, there was a great rumbling noise coming from up the road, and a large dust cloud that was steadily approaching the root's location.

Ironically, the root members were standing in perfect bowling pin formation.

The first Goron got a strike.

The rest squashed the downed pins.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's the omake! Special thanks to 3154 for the idea. Rolling Gorons make perfect bowling balls, don't you think? This reminds me of Orcarina of Time, when you are a kid and trying to climb death mountain for the first time. Those Gorons just loved treating you like a bowling pin.**

**Anyways, until next time,**

**Slice N Dicer**


	20. Chapter 19: Building Bridges

**(A/N) And we are back. I really say that a lot, don't I. I don't have much to say today, other than go over a few reviews.**

**WingedHero540: Yes I have read Naruto of the Nine Tails, and it is on my list of favorites. Edelta certainly has a thing for humor, just like Lord Farsight. I just wish he would update it soon. I love how the characters are portrayed in his story, especially the Anko-esque Hinata. I would love to be able to use the personalities that he used in his story, but I don't think that my writing skills are up to par enough for me to successfully use them.**

**Shi-no-Ookami: AnkoxKakashi, eh? Interesting idea, but I've personally always liked AnkoxIruka a bit better. Kakashi and Kiba are really the only ones of Konoha's cast that I can't decide on a relationship that I like the most. My favorite pairings are Naruhina, Shikatemari, Shinofu, Leesaku, KurenaixAsuma, AnkoxIruka, Nejiten, Inocho, and KonohamaruxHanabi. Usually Sasuke doesn't get a relationship depending on the timeline of the fanfic, but Sasusaku is acceptable if it takes place earlier on.**

**Adngo714: Hina-chan and Ruto-kun are my favorite nicknames that I like Naruto and Hinata to use for each other. I've read through a lot of Naruhina fanfics, and those two are the ones that I like the most, disregarding Tenshi-chan and Hina-hime for Hinata, because both wouldn't be very valid with the events in my story, although I might work in Hina-hime later, since she is the princess of the Namikaze now. They started to use them after becoming Hanyou because of the forced aging that went along with it. They didn't see each other in a fully romantic way before the transformation, although Hinata had a crush on Naruto after the bully incedent.**

**AnotherFanfictionFailure: I agree with you that Naruto dropping a mask and kicking ass is very cliché in terms of fanfics, but I twist the cliché a little. First, it is both of them dropping the mask, where it is usually just Naruto. Second, the mask thing has a bit of a double meaning, as if you were paying close attention, the jutsu Kurama used on them was in fact called "Demonic Arts: Kitsune Mask". I came up with that summary on the fly, and I will probably go back and make it better eventually.**

**Shadowhaseo: Hmm, somebody finally started to wonder how Minato got access to all of these things. Took you guys long enough. But allow me to explain. We all know that the Hiraishin is a very powerful space-time ninjutsu, and that Minato was a complete genius. So it didn't take long for Minato to separate the space from the space-time. By editing the Hiraishin, Minato actually created a jutsu that allowed dimensional travel, thus giving him access to the many dimensions that we all know and love. Minato traveled to the various dimensions, and became quite a hero in a great many of them. While this would obviously take a lot of time, Minato still had the time part of the space-time to use. So he used it in a brilliant way. Any time he spent in an alternate dimension was not reflected onto the Narutoverse. So while he may have lived to become an old man in one dimension, he instantly was turned back to his younger self when he went back to the Narutoverse, and would become the old man if he ever went back to the other dimension. Also, no time passed in the Narutoverse whenever he left. To others, he would vanish in his trademarked yellow flash, only to reappear instantly, usually with a lot more stuff than he had when he left. Of course Kushina was the only one who knew his secret.**

**Chaos267: Glad you like it. I personally don't like needless Kakashi bashing, so there will be none in my story. The only time when I view it as acceptable is when Naruto is on team 7 and Kakashi hadn't trained him properly. I also admit that he and Jiraiya both didn't train Naruto very well in canon. In my opinion, after the three year training trip with Jiraiya, Naruto should have been well on his way to matching at least Kakashi in single combat.**

**Also, I had a wicked idea. I was thinking of how the training with the masters of youth and Kiba was going to go, and what he would learn from it. Then the idea of an eight gates Tsuga dawned on me. I think that attack would be scarily powerful. We will definitely see that in the future.**

**On the matters of youthful individuals, I was thinking of giving the banshee a chance to stop being a fangirl. She will still have a wince-inducing tone of voice, but I think that Lee will break her out of her fangirlism. Lee is honestly a really cool character, and I really do like Leesakura, so I think that by doing this, I can actually have a truly decent team 7 (Sasuke not included. I have decided on his future, and it does involve going to the snake)**

**Anyways, enough of that and on with the show!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 19: Building Bridges

As they walked away from Tazuna's house, Tazuna said "Your father said something about clones helping us out. What did he mean?"

Naruto grinned and said "This is what he meant!" before making the familiar handsign and saying "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**". A clone popped into existence and poked Tazuna.

"So these are solid clones, eh? You and your ninja tricks never cease to amaze me. Currently we have 20 willing workers working on the bridge. However, the optimum number would be 100 workers. How many clones could each of you make?"

At this, Hinata giggled and said "We actually don't know what are limit of clones is. Usually 1000 clones each is more than enough to get whatever job we are doing done, so we have never tried to exceed that number. So we have a question for you. How many people could work on your bridge at one time?"

Tazuna sweat dropped and said "1000 clones? That's a bit ridiculous. However my bridge is big enough that we could have 500 people working on it and still have extra room."

"Then Hina-chan and I will have 240 clones each working on the bridge, while we each have a hundred clones on standby as replacements." Said Naruto as he punched out his clone before continuing "As you can see, they are sort of fragile, but whenever one pops, all of the others get that one's experiences, making them better at the job that they were doing. While this is nothing like training, it doesn't hurt to have standbys, as accidents do happen. How long have you been working on this bridge old man? With twenty people it must have taken forever to get it as far done as you currently are."

"We've been working for five years straight. Originally, we had the full one hundred, but now we are down to only twenty. I was fully expecting to complete the bridge in two weeks, but with as many clones as you have, we should be done within three days. It would be done today if you were as experienced as my workers." Answered Tanzuna.

"Five years! Your dedicated old man, I'll give you that. After we get there and make the clones, Hina-chan and I will go nearby and train. Ignore the sounds that our training makes. If you are attacked by something that our clones can't handle, we will know and we will come and save you. I think that for the first few attempts that it will only be bandits, but when we near completion, Gato will probably send ninja. We should only need to come if those ninja are high level jonin, anything else and our clones won't have a problem."

They continued walking to the bridge in silence.

**(Timeskip no Jutsu)**

The next three days past fairly quickly. True to Naruto's prediction, Gato initially sent bandits, but when none of them came back, he grew suspicious. So on the second day, he sent some rouge chunin, none of which came back either. Zabuza came back that day and reported that he had learned of Gato's location. They decided that they would attack after the bridge was finished though. So on the third day, they arrived to find several jonin waiting in ambush. Zabuza and Haku had gone with them just in case, so they protected Tazuna and the other workers while Naruto and Hinata cleaned up. They may have been jonin, but they were by no means elite, so it didn't take too long. Hinata left one alive and sent him scurrying back to Gato with the cryptic message "We are coming." She also left him in a state where several of his tenketsu had been obliterated, meaning that he would never be a ninja again **(Now how did she do that? Here is a hint: it involves a jutsu that I named in an A/N).**

**(Timeskip no Jutsu KAI!)**

It was right after the civilianized jonin got sent packing that Zabuza spoke up, saying "Are you sure it was a good idea to let him live and tell Gato that we are coming for him? That surely means that he will bolster his defences and hire more rouge ninja to protect himself."

Hinata giggled and said "That's the point, Zabuza-san. We want him to hire as many rouge ninja as he can, just so we can take them out for their bounties. Ruto-kun and I have no need for money, but this land does, so we will just give the bounty money to them, after Konoha takes a small cut. While I'm sure that Gato himself will have plenty of money that we can take off his hands, a little extra won't hurt."

Tazuna was moved to tears by what she said and he said "You truly are too generous for us. You are willing to risk life and limb just to make sure that our land will be properly insured. You have saved my life multiple times and made my grandson see the light after being in darkness. How can I ever repay you?"

Naruto grinned and said "No recompense is needed old man. Just seeing you and your village happy will be enough. I hate people who think that they have the right to rule over others with arrogance, so Gato will just be getting what he deserves. Now let's go and finish this bridge once and for all!"

Instantly 280 clones of Naruto and Hinata poofed into existence with a large "YEAAAAAAH!"

The day went on without any other interruptions, and now there was only one cement block to be laid down before the bridge was finally complete. The entirety of Tazuna's village was there for the momentous occasion, as was Team 7.

Tazuna's men slowly lowered the block into the bridge and cemented it in. The entire village cheered with joy. The bridge was finally complete after five years! They were cheering loudly when they were abruptly stopped by Naruto shouting "WAIT! WE ARE NOT DONE YET!"

The crowd quieted down and Tazuna asked "Why, we just put in the last block?"

Hinata giggled and said "Because of two things. One is that you haven't seen the _special editions_ that Ruto-kun and I have put in. Whether you keep them or not is up to you. And second, you haven't named the bridge yet."

Tazuna looked at the pair quizzically, and said "What do you mean by special editions?"

Naruto grinned and said "This!" before making a special hand sign and saying "**Kitsune Illusion: KAI!**"

There was a great shimmering of light as the illusion on the bridge dissolved to show a huge stone nine tailed fox that was standing protectively over the bridge with a growl on its face, looking over to the Land of Fire with a look that said "If anyone wants to mess with the land across this bridge, then you will feel the wrath of the Kyuubi!" **(For anyone who has played Okami, the fox is in the defensive pose that Ammy takes when she is about to battle a boss) **

Carved onto the front paw of the Kyuubi statue that was right by the entrance to the bridge was a plaque that read:

"_The land of waves is under the protection of the great Kyuubi no Kitsune. For those who wish ill will upon the land, you shall feel the wrath of the fox._

_Signed:_

_Naruto U-N and Hinata U-N, resident hosts of the Kyuubi._

Tazuna read the plaque and said in shock "What do you mean that this land is under the protection of the Kyuubi?"

Naruto grinned and said "I mean this!" before flying through some handsigns and saying "**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!**"

He slammed his palm upon the ground and there was a great eruption of swirling flames. The flames died down to reveal Kurama.

Kurama grinned and said **"My kit means that this land is under my protection!"**

Kakashi's gape was visible through his mask and he was instantly on guard and said "You are the Kyuubi? What are you doing here?!"

Kurama's grin widened and he said **"Yes, I am the great Kyuubi no Kitsune. You mortals should be bowing before me, and in awe of my tails, but I have to say that having the kit be around you has certainly dulled the reaction of seeing someone with tails. And as to what I am doing here, my kit made a deal with me that I could come out and use a special clone so that the wave would stay safe. All I'm getting in return is…YOUR SOULS!"**

"…"

"…"

"…"

"WHAT!?" shouted everybody in unison.

Kurama started laughing hysterically and said **"I'm only kidding! You should have seen the looks on your faces. I'm a kitsune, remember? I play pranks. Where do you think the kit and his vixen got it from? No, the only thing I'm getting is the feeling of having my clone around in the real world. While I do not control it, I can feel what it does. It's sort of an advanced version of you ninja's Kage Bushin. It will satiate my need for stretching my legs outside of the kit's mind. So without further ado…KITSUNE BUSHIN NO JUTSU!"**

Kurama made the hand sign that Naruto had made before, and in a puff of flames, standing there was an exact clone of Kurama, except it only had two tails.

Kurama then continued speaking, saying **"This clone is unique. As you can see, it has two tails of my power, which is more than enough to take on practically any Jonin. It could even give a Kage level opponent a run for its money. This clone will stay here and deal with any threats to the land of waves. Assuming a Kage doesn't come here and fight, it will last for around fifty of your human years. But by then, your land should have become quite advanced, and hopefully, you will think of starting a ninja academy. My clone could help with that."**

Naruto turned to Kurama and said "Well Kurama-sensei, you certainly have been working on your entrances. Using flames instead of smoke is an awesome idea. Do you think you could teach me how to do that with my shadow clones?"

Hinata added a "Me too" and Kurama said **"I don't see why not. If your clones appear in a puff of fire, then your opponents might not think that they are shadow clones. By the way, how close are you to getting the fire and wind clones, Naruto? Your vixen already completed her water and fire clones, and has moved on to working with a foxfire clone."**

Depressed, Naruto said "I've got the wind clone down fine, it's just my fire clones have the problem of spontaneously combusting, and Hina-chan won't tell me how to get over that problem." He looked at Hinata with his best puppy dog eyes.

Hinata rolled her eyes and said "You know that your Puppy Eyes no Jutsu is nowhere near the level that it would take to affect me, Ruto-kun. I won't tell you. While I may love you, you have to figure this one out yourself."

Kiba then interrupted, saying "Wait, the Kyuubi is your sensei? No wonder why you are so strong."

Hinata rolled her eyes again and said "Of course the Kyuubi is our sensei. If it were anyone else, we wouldn't be anywhere near the level that we are currently at."

Naruto cleared his throat and said to Tazuna "Anyways, do you except the additions we made to the bridge or not old man? We also included several strengthening seals to protect the bridge from blunt attacks and explosions, as well as chakra absorption seals to stop any jutsu from harming the bridge. Both are of the highest level that I can currently do. The only way that I see this bridge being destroyed is if Kurama-sensei used a tailed beast bomb on it."

"I would be a fool as to not accept your additions. My only question is how you possibly got enough stone to make that giant fox statue?"

Hinata giggled and said "Clones are an amazing thing. As are wind jutsus. On a side note, there is now a huge hole in the ground somewhere in the Land of Fire."

Everyone sweat dropped, and Tazuna said "It's getting pretty late, so why don't us all head back across the bridge and get on home? We will have a proper celebration once the ninja come back from a side mission of theirs with a few things."

With that, everyone turned and headed home, leaving Kurama's clone to guard the bridge.

**(Tazuna's house)**

When everybody got back to Tazuna's house, Kakashi asked Zabuza "When do you plan on going after Gato?"

Zabuza replied by saying "Tonight. We will head out under the cover of darkness. Gato is currently holed up in an underwater base that is located pretty close to here. The passageway that leads to it starts from an "abandoned" shack down in the village. None of the civilians ever go near it because they think that it is haunted. I don't think that that is the case, and I think we should expect our first resistance there. From there, we will follow the passageway to Gato's base, and deal with any resistance there. I expect Gato to be holed up behind his strongest guards."

"Okay, we will wait until the night" replied Naruto.

**(1:00 A.M. at the abandoned shack)**

Naruto, Hinata, Zabuza, and Haku had just arrived at the shack. They entered it warily, and looked around. It truly looked like it was an abandoned place, with the exception of a trapdoor that looked like it would lead into a cellar. Suddenly, steam began pouring from the trapdoor, filling the room.

Sensing immeadiate danger, Haku shouted "**Hyoton: Shouheki-hie!**" and formed a dome of ice around the group. The ice dome completed just in time, as all the steam in the room suddenly expanded and exploded, annihilating the shack.

Haku's ice barrier took the explosion, but the explosion had caused the dome to crack heavily, and it was completely melted in some areas. Haku let what was left of the dome turn into water with a splash, and the group looked around warily.

Suddenly a voice rang out as a person walked out of what was left of the trapdoor, saying "Well what do we have here? An ex-member of the seven swordsman, a hyoton user, and two of what Kokuo calls "Hanyou", with one of them being an unsealed Hyuuga, and interestingly enough, the other appears to be the son of my old rival, that bastard of a Namikaze, Minato."

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. So far, I think that that is my favorite cliffhanger that I have done in this story. I am truly evil, leaving you guys off like that. But next chapter will be interesting indeed, with the confrontation with the unknown man not going in a way that you guys might not expect, if you guys can guess who he is. It's pretty obvious, as I gave two huge hints. There will be fighting next chapter, but who fights who is another matter. I honestly can't wait to get the next chapter done, and it has the potential to be my longest chapter yet. I may have to split it into two parts, as there will be four intense fights. We will see Naruto and Hinata using the full power of Soshi Kiba and Nijitanken, as well as Zabuza being a badass, and Haku showing off some very unique Hyoton moves. By the way, Hyoton: Shouheki-hie means Ice style: Barrier-Ice.  
**

**Anyways, we still have an omake, so on with that!**

**()()()()()()()()**

The Wheel of Torture Chapter 11

The root were at their nasty hijinks once again.

So of course their nasty hijinks was treated with a nasty result, courtesy of our favorite wheel of seals.

Today the door read "Crows N' Pits"

Suddenly, the land around the root squad dropped away, leaving them standing on a small island of land, surrounded by a bottomless pit. There was a single poof in the air, and a single black crow started flying at the squad.

Seeing a member of the feathered kind, they immediately panicked. The less experienced root members chose the easy way out, and jumped in the pit, leaving only the team captain remaining.

He braced himself for the worst, took out a kunai, and let it fly at the crow. To his surprise, the crow dropped into the pit after being mortally wounded by the kunai. To his subsequent horror, there was another poof of smoke, and another crow started flying at him. He repeated what he did before, knocking the new crow out of the air.

But of course, there was another poof of smoke, and yet another crow flew at him.

The process repeated again 148 times.

The one hundred fifty first crow started flying at him, and the root captain reached into his pouch for another shuriken, only to find that he had completely used all 50 of his kunai, and all 100 of his shuriken.

So the captain prayed to the log for a quick end as the crow got closer and closer.

The crow slammed into him with a soft "Thump", somehow sending him flying a good 15 feet back, into the abyss.

His screams echoed out of the abyss as the crow poofed away and the pits vanished.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's the omake! Special thanks to Rio Vena for suggesting the infinitely respawning crows of Ninja Gaiden. Why the hell does a crow send you flying a good 15 feet back when it touches you anyways? Video game physics, I guess. Infinite respawning enemies are also a bit unfair, especially if they just respawn right in front of your face.**

**But whatever, until next time,**

**Slice N Dicer**


	21. Chapter 20: The fight for Gato part 1

**(A/N) And we are back. I just really like saying that. All of you who bothered to input it into a review figured out who the man was. In other words, you got the fact that he used steam, and he mentioned being told by Kokuo something. So in other words, you figured out that the man was in fact Han.**

**I need your guys' help. I need to figure out who I should pair Haku with. I have narrowed it down to two choices. One is KibaxHaku, and was an idea mentioned to me by chaos267. I think it could work. My own idea is the yuri pairing of HakuxYugito. I know that some people might be a little upset at a yuri pairing, and your free to tell me so, but do not tell me that yuri is stupid or something like that as your reason against the pairing. I will respectfully ignore your other argument if you say that. My opinions on yaoi and yuri are as follows: I like yuri because I am a straight 18 year old guy, and let's just say it intrigues me. I approve of NarukoxHinata, but I don't read those sort of stories very often. I am impassive when it comes to yaoi, but I find it a little creepy. Needless to say, I don't read any yaoi. But those are just my own opinions, and they are neither right nor wrong. I personally like these two potential pairings, as the first one would finally give me someone to pair Kiba with, and the second one would give Yugito someone to share her power with. I think mixing ice and cat flames could be quite fun. The executive decision remains mine, and I am leaning towards HakuxYugito, but I would like to hear your opinions on the matter before I decide. I have ideas for where and when both would start the relationship, so it is not a matter of that. Please leave your opinions via reviews or PM's.**

**Also I would like to say that I have officially built up the courage to write my first lemon. I have thought a lot about it, and I know where and when Hinata and Naruto will do it. It is only a matter of time before we get there, so keep your eyes open.**

**Anyways, on with the chapter.**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 20: The fight for Gato, part 1

Naruto swallowed nervously as the figure finished walking out of the ruined trapdoor. He then began reciting "_Target: Han, known as "Han of the Steam Armour". Affiliation: Iwagakure. Rank: Jonin. Height: 7 foot. Weight: unknown, presumably extremely heavy. Current age: 40. Threat level: SS+. Eye color: Orange. Notes: Uses dangerous steam based ninjutsu. Also is the jinchuriki of the Gobi, the five tailed Dolphin-horse. Has full control over his tailed beast. Flee on sight orders are mandatory, and is the only one other than our own Yellow Flash to be given these orders. Also note that he was the only one to EVER survive a full blown battle with said Yellow Flash. Extreme precaution is to be taken when retreating."_

Han laughed and said "I'm impressed kid. That was word for word my description from Konoha's bingo book. To have memorized it at such a young age is an accomplishment indeed. But that begs to ask the question, why are you not fleeing?"

Naruto laughed nervously before saying "I am seriously contemplating taking the others and Hiraishining the hell out of here. I don't think that even four on one we would win in this fight. Also the fact that you're an Iwa nin who knows my heritage, and even said that you were rivals with him is seriously scaring me."

"You really are the son of Minato then. Anybody else in your situation would have used that accursed space-time technique of your fathers to get as far away from here already. So why don't you tell me why you are not miles away from here?" said Han with a short laugh.

Naruto nervously rubbed the back of his head and said "Well there are a few reasons why we are not gone. The first is that we have a mission to complete. Although I never would have expected that you would have gone rouge and been hired as a bodyguard by Gato. The second is that I wish to speak with you about jinchuriki matters."

Han began laughing heavily, before saying "You have it all wrong. I have not gone rouge. At least not yet, but if those civilian council idiots keep bugging me, then I might. Although that shrimp down there did try to hire me, but I respectfully declined. And I will listen to a former jinchuriki about those sorts of matters."

Naruto let out a huge sigh of relief, before saying "If you are not here because of Gato, then what is such a prestigious Iwa nin such as yourself doing here, Han-san?"

Han flinched at being called "Han-san", and let out a bunch of steam from his furnace, before saying "Please, just Han. While Han-san may be proper, I hate it when people call me that. It really gets on my nerves. As to what I am doing here in such a pitiful country, I am here trying to convince an old friend of mine to come back to our village. Master Roushi has not been the same since he left. However, he declined my offer, and is currently working to protect that pathetic shrimp of a man. After I spoke with him, Gato offered me a rather large sum of money to stay and protect him from an attack, which I presume is you guys. I declined him, as I have no need for money. He then ordered his men to attack me, the idiot. I killed everyone who attacked me and left their bodies there, so feel free to collect their bounties. The only ones who didn't attack me were my friend, a rouge jonin from Kumo, a rouge jonin from Kiri, and a rouge chunin from Kiri. They are the only ones who are alive to defend that man. I realize that you four are going to fight them. My only request is that you-" he said while pointing at Naruto "-Fight my friend and give him an honorable death. He will feel at peace if he knew that he died fighting the son of the Yellow Flash. I suspect that the Kumo nin will go straight for the Hyuuga girl, and the Kiri nin will go for Zabuza. That leaves the chunin for the Hyoton girl. Now you said that you wanted to talk about jinchuriki matters?"

Naruto took a deep breath before saying "Yes, I would like to know your thoughts on becoming a Hanyou by merging with Kokuo, as I think you said his name was."

"Her, actually. She is a girl. As for my thoughts on becoming like you, I am not sure. I have full control over her power, and becoming a Hanyou would probably only make the civilian council in Iwa loath me more, if I gained any features like the ones you and your girlfriend have. On the other side, I have pretty much become as strong as I will ever get, and I assume becoming a Hanyou would probably remove that limit, allowing me to surpass that limit. I need to think about it. Actually, how about this? We both know that I am currently stronger than you, so when you fight me one day and surpass me, I will recognize that I will need to go beyond my own human limits to keep up. On that day that you surpass me, I will merge with Kokuo." Said Han.

Naruto grinned and said "Does that mean that you are not going to kill us all right now?"

Han laughed and said "No, I will not kill you guys. In all honesty, ever since your dad died, I haven't had a satisfying fight. But I can see that both you and your girlfriend have the potential to surpass your father. So I will postpone our match until then. I will take my leave now to report my failed mission back to Iwa. Good hunting."

Han started walking away before he turned and said "By the way, the fox on the bridge is a nice touch." Before he shunshined away in a burst of steam.

Naruto turned to face his group and said "Well that probably went the best way that it could have gone. It sounds like there are only four ninja left, and there are four of us. The opponents that Han matched us with sound fine to me, what about you guys?"

Hinata nodded and smiled evilly at what she could do to the Kumo nin, while Zabuza and Haku just nodded.

With that they headed into the trapdoor.

They followed a passageway that was dimly lit by lanterns quite a ways downwards, before the path leveled out. The path continued a little ways further, before giving ways to stairs. The group climbed the stairs which eventually lead out into what could only be described as an underwater glass dome that was lit by several lights on the sides of the dome. Gato's fortress was indeed a whole underwater dome matrix. Each dome had a glass tunnel that lead to other bubbles. Some of the domes were as small as a shed, while others could hold an entire football field within them.

The first thing Naruto's team noticed was the astounding amount of boiled corpses that were strewn across the floor of the dome that they were in. The second thing that they noticed were the four ninja who stood a little ways away from them. And the final things that they noticed was the small cowering shrimp who stood by one exit which appeared to lead to a solid iron dome.

One of the ninja finally spoke up and said "As you can obviously see, my buddy Han came by and boiled some of your opposition, no thanks to our idiotic employer who thought that numbers would win against an SS+ ranked ninja. No matter, we four are the strongest of all of the ninja that Gato hired to protect him. But where are our manners? Allow us to introduce ourselves, and then you can introduce yourselves. I can tell that we are all ninja of honor here. After our introductions, we can choose who fight who. My name is Kuroyurasu **(Black Rock)**, former jonin of Iwa, and I am known as the "Obsidian Fortress".

The ninja standing next to him said "My name is Akarui** (Bright)**, former jonin of Kumo, and brother to the Raikage's right arm, Darui **(Dull)**. I am known as the "Thundering Gale of Kumo".

The ninja next to him said "My name is Jack Trades, former jonin of Kiri. I am known as the "User of many but master of none."

Finally, the smaller female ninja on the end said "My name is Puchame **(Small Rain), **former chunin of Kiri. I am known as the "Human Floodgate."

Seeing that their oppenants had finished introducing themselves, Naruto stepped forwards and said "My name is Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, current genin of Konoha. I guess I am known as the "Number one prankster of Konoha." Kuroyurasu got excited when he heard this.

Hinata stepped forwards and said "My name is Hinata Uzumaki-Namikaze, formerly Hinata Hyuuga. I am a current genin of Konoha, and I have not made my name known yet, but in the future, I would like to be known as the "Lavender Flash." Akarui got really excited when he heard the Hyuuga part of what she said.

Zabuza stepped forwards and said "My name is Zabuza Momochi, ex-seven swordsman of the mist. I am known as the "Demon of the mist."

Finally, Haku stepped forwards and said "My name is Haku Momochi. I have no affiliation other than to my adoptive father. I have no moniker as of yet, but I wish to be known as "The frozen wasteland."

Jack Trades then said "Well now that introductions are out of the way, who should fight who?"

Kuroyurasu and Akarui immeadiately said "I want him/her!" While pointing at Naruto and Hinata respectively.

Naruto and Hinata both said that that was fine, but Hinata had a scarily evil smirk on her face.

Jack Trades just sighed at his fellow rouge's impulsiveness, but he said "I do wish to fight you, Zabuza-san, as I have always wished to test fully whether it is to better to be a master of one or a user of many."

Zabuza said "Very well. I have heard of your exploits, Jack. This should be an interesting match."

Puchame said to Haku "I guess that means we are fighting each other. May the best girl win."

Naruto then said to everyone "This dome is a bit messy. How about we each go to separate domes to fight, and the winner of each fight will come back here. If both groups have members that have both won and lost, we will determine new matchups based on the survivors."

With that Naruto and Kuroyurasu took a tunnel leading to one of the larger domes, while Hinata and Akarui followed them, intending to split off to a different dome. Zabuza and Jack took a tunnel to a dome that was the size of a large dojo, and Puchame and Haku took a tunnel to another one of the large domes.

**(Naruto and Kuroyurasu)**

Naruto was currently looking over Kuroyurasu's appearance with Kuroyurasu doing the same thing to Naruto. Kuroyurasu was a very big and stocky man, with not an ounce of fat on his body. Naruto estimated him to be at least 6' 5". He was completely bald, and he didn't have eyebrows. His eyes were completely black, with no pupils. What intruged Naruto though was the fact that he didn't wear anything except a pair of black ninja pants. He didn't even wear shoes. He also had no ninja pouches or weapons of any kind. Overall, he looked extremely intimidating.

Kuroyurasu then broke the silence, saying "Well, for a genin, you are certainly well equipped, and the fact that you can walk next to me without breaking down makes me question your status as a genin."

Naruto chuckled and said "Ranks mean nothing to me right now. The only reason that I am a genin is that I wish to be. If I showed my skills to the Hokage, then I have no doubt that he would immediately give me a field promotion to jonin. But my goal is to become the Hokage, so I am not taking any shortcuts."

Kuroyurasu let out a deep laugh before saying "You're an interesting kid, I'll give you that. But the fact that you are a Namikaze means that I won't be holding anything back. If I come back with the Flash's son's head, then the civilian council of Iwa would have to accept me back. The only reason why I didn't leave with Han earlier today is that they refuse to accept the way I do things. I fight for my honor and pride, and the council smeared my pride, so I left. While I miss Iwa, if the council does not show me the respect that I deserve, then I refuse to go back. But if I come back with your head, then they will without a doubt treat me with respect."

With that, the pair reached their destination. Naruto and Kuroyurasu stood a ways from each other, with Kuroyurasu standing in a grappler's stance. Naruto slowly unsheathed Kadouken, before suddenly back flipping away, and while in mid flip, Naruto shouted "**Rasenkadou!**" The spiral vortex was of the wind variety, and it quickly flew and collided with Kuroyurasu.

The attack had kicked up a fair amount of dust, and when the dust cleared, it revealed a still standing Kuroyurasu. Naruto was a bit shocked that he was completely unharmed, so he resolved to find out why. This time charging Kadouken with his fire chakra, Naruto unleashed another Rasenkadou, but paid very careful attention to what Kuroyurasu did. When the flaming spiral collided with the man, Naruto noticed that for a very brief moment, upon collision, the entirety of Kuroyurasu's skin turned jet black.

"That's a very interesting jutsu that you have there, Kuroyurasu-san. It seems that you can briefly harden your body to unknown levels, effectively blocking both my wind and fire. I suspect that your body is changing somehow when you do this, as fire would not be stopped by any skin hardening jutsu." Said Naruto as he charged in towards Kuroyurasu.

Naruto rapidly closed the distance between the two, and swung Kadouken at his neck in an effort to chop his head off, but as he expected, the skin that Kadouken was about to connect with turned jet black. But when Kadouken connected with him, something happened that Naruto did not expect. Kadouken bounced off of his skin in a shower of sparks.

Seeing his opening, Kuroyurasu delivered a mighty left hook to Naruto's unguarded chest. The instant before he connected though, Kuroyurasu's arm turned jet black.

The force of the punch sent Naruto flying 20 meters away. He landed on the ground with a large *CRASH*.

Naruto had somehow managed to hold onto Kadouken, but he was laying on the ground and coughing up a fair amount of blood. Naruto unsteadily stood up using Kadouken as support and wiped the blood off his face. He then said "You shattered several of my ribs with that single punch, and if I were not me, I would have been down for a month to heal. However, I think that I now know what you're ability is. Tell me if I am wrong, but I think that you have the ability to instantaneously turn parts or your whole body into obsidian. That explains why you were completely unfazed by both my fire and wind Rasenkadous, and why your punch did way more damage than it should have done."

Kuroyurasu laughed and said "You truly are a Namikaze to figure out my ability so perfectly after just being hit once. Then again, most people would have been killed by that punch. However, unless you can heal your ribs, then you have lost." He slowly began walking towards Naruto.

Naruto coughed up a bit more blood before smiling and saying "Then I am really glad that I can temporarily heal my shattered ribs. But I will have to finish it quick so my Hina-chan can fully heal them."

Kuroyurasu stopped walking towards him and instantly went on guard.

Naruto's chakra exploded around him in orange flames, and he suddenly vanished. Kuroyurasu suddenly gained a huge cut along his chest, and would have died from Naruto's next cut if he hadn't fully transformed into obsidian. Instead, Naruto clanged off of his body with a bright shower of sparks.

Naruto stood back from his opponent and said "Damn, I still don't have full control when I move at that speed. That first cut should have cleaved your body in two if it had done what I intended it to do. And if you can stay in that form, then my Kadouken is useless against you. Although, my foxfire Rasenkadou could probably melt your obsidian body, the heat generated by it would also melt the glass dome, and that would kill us both. Looks like I have to use Soshi Kiba."

Kuroyurasu was still bleeding heavily from the cut, but the blood looked like liquid obsidian. He started to laugh and said "I can't remember the last time someone made me bleed. You really are something else. But I am not called the "Obsidian Fortress" for nothing. I can probably keep this form long enough for your chakra boost to wear off and stop maintaining your ribs, so it's only a matter of time before you lose, unless you have another trick up your sleeve."

Naruto sheathed Kadouken before taking out Soshi Kiba. Naruto began channeling his wind chakra through the blades, causing large blades of wind to appear. Naruto then said "These are the trick that I have up my sleeve. Let's see how these blades deal with your obsidian body."

Naruto leapt at Kuroyurasu, who was in his grappler's stance. Ducking under a right hook, Naruto slashed upwards with one of his fangs. The wind blade made a small cut that leaked out a little liquid obsidian. Leaning backwards and silently thanking Hinata for helping with his own flexibility, Naruto ducked under a dangerous palm thrust that would have shattered even more of his ribs had it connected. While in the limbo position, Naruto knocked away Kuroyurasu's outstretched arm before kicking off his feet and doing a backflip while at the same time extending and sharpening both fangs to the limit. This resulted in two deep vertical gashes appearing on Kuroyurasu's torso.

Disengaging via the flip Naruto thought to himself "_Straight wind is not going to cut it if that's all the damage I can do with it. I would go with plasma, but I remember testing it against the vault door, and the door didn't melt or even get a scratch. I don't trust myself enough to be able to handle the power of an element combined with foxfire yet, so it looks like we have to go with sear. Sear creates what I think to be the sharpest blade in existence, so if I can't end it with that, I'm screwed. If he saw me going through any handseals, I have no doubt that he would do something to stop me, so it looks like sear is my only hope._"

Snapping out of his thoughts, Naruto began channeling his fire chakra into his wind blades. The air around the blades began to shimmer with the heat, and the chakra extensions started to shimmer away, until the only way that one could tell that there was an extension would be to look at the complete distortion of air that was where the extensions were at.

Naruto thought to himself "_I have three minutes left before my ribs go back to their previous state. I hope this works._"

Naruto leapt back at Kuroyurasu, who was eyeing the shimmering blade suspiciously. Kuroyurasu made another right hook at Naruto, who dodged it and slashed a fang at the extended arm. Kuroyurasu screamed with pain as the searing blade cleaved straight through his obsidian arm, slicing it off. It fell to the ground with a loud thunk. Naruto let out a satisfied smirk, seeing that sear had worked perfectly.

Instantly, Kuroyurasu was on the defensive. He focused all of his energy onto dodging the deadly extensions, but the shimmering blades were hard to see, let alone dodge. He took quite a few nasty cuts and he was starting to slow down.

Naruto meanwhile had been counting down the time he had left. He currently had 30 seconds to finish the battle. He knew that Kuroyurasu was slowing down, but so was he. His ribs were starting to destabilize, and the pain had come back.

So Naruto did something drastic. After Kuroyurasu dodged his latest strike, Naruto threw both fangs into the air. This distracted Kuroyurasu long enough for two of his tails to reach up and grab the flying blades before he rechanneled his chakra and flipped, and at the same time, the two tails flowed into an X, carving through Kuroyurasu's torso in with two diagonal slashes.

Landing his front flip, Naruto looked at Kuroyurasu's smiling face. His last words were "That was a fun fight, kid. You really are a Namikaze." Before his body fell apart into four pieces.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. That was quite the intense battle, if I do say so myself. I hope you guys like the OC's that I made up. I also made Han one of the most powerful character's in the current Narutoverse. He is not someone to be trifled with, and he would annihilate Naruto in a one on one right now.**

**Next chapter will be at least two battles, maybe all three, so stay tuned. You should be able to tell some of the OC's abilities by their monikers that I gave them. As evidenced by Kuroyurasu's moniker of "Obsidian Fortress". By the way, obsidian is my favorite type of rock, and I know that plasma should easily melt through it, but in the Narutoverse that I have created, obsidian is one of the strongest materials known to man.**

**Also you should pay little attention to the meaning of Puchame's name, as it is a lie in terms of her powers. Her moniker suits her powers much better. If you were called "The Human Floodgate", you better be able to do something with water. Lots and lots of high pressure water.**

**Anyways, on with the omake!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Wheel of Torture Chapter 12

Did you ever wonder if you could die of sheer boredom?

Well today, the root members found out that it is quite possible.

When they tried their luck with the wheel today, it stopped on "Mr. Resetti".

The root squad was instantly buried in pitfalls, and everybody's (not so) favorite mole popped out of the ground.

He started yapping about how you should never restart your game, but the root members figured that they got lucky today, since it didn't look like anyone would be dying today.

They decided to wait the mole's rant out.

Bad idea.

He just kept going on and on about how you shouldn't reset your game.

One by one, the root members dropped out of life through the sheer boredom of just listening to a mole rant about how you should never reset your game.

The mole continued ranting long after the final root member had died. It wasn't until he got the call that some other no good reseter had reset their game that he left.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's the omake. I am not stupid enough to reset any of my animal crossing games, so I have never experienced the mole's rant. However, I have heard stories. Dying through sheer boredom has got to be one of the worst ways to go in my opinion.**

**Until next time,**

**Slice N Dicer**


	22. Chapter 21: The fight for Gato part 2

**(A/N) And we are back. Sorry about the lack of update yesterday, but I had a minor case of insomnia that led to me not falling asleep till five in the morning and sleeping until two in the afternoon. On the bright side, I had a whole lot of time to think about my story. I've thought about a lot of what is going to happen in the chunin exams, and I can't wait to get there.**

**On a side note, you guys seem to like my idea for HakuxYugito a lot, which sort of surprised me. I'll leave the pairing in the open for a little longer while I finish the wave arc.**

**So without further ado, on with the chapter!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 21: The fight for Gato part 2

Right as Kuroyurasu's body fell to the ground, the chakra boost that Naruto had given himself wore off, causing his ribs to destabilize once more. He coughed up a bit more blood, but he took a scroll out of his pouch. Opening it, he injected some chakra into it to cause a bigger scroll to pop out. Naruto then, sealed Kuroyurasu's body into it. He then started to wobble back towards the entry dome.

Once he reached the dome, he sat down on the floor. He would have gone and sealed the rest of the bodies, but he knew that if he moved too much, there was a chance that he could die. So he sat there in pain and hoped that Hinata would finish up soon. He knew that she was as strong if not stronger than him, but he was still worried none the less. He also worried that she would toy with the Kumo nin too much.

Suddenly there was a bright lavender flash, and a worried looking Hinata appeared in front of him. She said "Naruto-kun! What happened to you?"

Hearing Hinata not calling him by his nickname, Naruto could tell that she was upset. He must look worse than he thought he did. He laughed dryly and said "I got punched. _Once._" He then began recounting his fight with Kuroyurasu as she bent down and conjured her special foxflames and started mending his ribs.

When he finished his story Hinata said "That was extremely reckless of you Naruto!" Naruto flinched that she had dropped the "Kun" from his name, "You know that I told you that while you could temporarily heal wounds by going into that orange flash state of yours, it also makes the wounds worse when the state wears off. You had shards of your ribs in your lungs! If I had not gotten here when I did, you would have died within five minutes, even less if you moved around more! That's why I specifically told you _to never heal yourself like that unless I am directly nearby!_"

Naruto looked down and said "I know. I'm really sorry, Hina-chan. But it was the only way that I could have beaten him without possibly causing damage to the dome."

Hinata bit her lip, and was conflicted between herself being upset of what Naruto had done, and the relief that she felt from knowing that Naruto was fine. She then sighed and said "I'm not angry at you Ruto-kun, I was just worried. But you're fine now, so it's all in the past. But can you try not to come back with a wound that even Tsunade wouldn't have been able to heal next time?"

Hearing her call him "Ruto-kun" again, Naruto instantly felt a lot better. He had been laying down while Hinata was healing him, but he leaned up and gave Hinata a quick peck on the lips, and said "Sorry again, Hina-chan. I wasn't careful enough and I got hit because of it. Unfortunately, that one hit had a scary amount of power in it. Anyways, I see that you have finally perfected the Hiraishin and apparently marked me with the seal for it. Although I'm a bit confused, as I thought that the flash was supposed to be yellow."

Hinata giggled and said "I have not mastered the Hiraishin. And I don't think that I ever will completely master it. You are right though, the Hiraishin's flash will always be yellow. That was a technique that I have been working on in secret, and I finally mastered it in my fight with Akarui. It's called Sorime **(Warping/Distorting eye)**. It is weaker than the Hiraishin in some ways and surpasses it in others. It is a space-time ninjutsu that allows me to instantly warp anywhere in my field of vision without any seals, which because of my byakugan, is anywhere within a 5 kilometer radius around me. However, I can't use it repeatedly without a serious sensation of vertigo, so the Hiraishin has me beat there. It takes approximately 30 seconds for me to use the technique again without drawbacks. Also, it's a bad idea for me to warp right next to the enemy, as it distorts the air quite obviously, which would notify the enemy of where I am going to come out."

Naruto's eyes widened and he said "That's amazing Hina-chan! Do you think you could teach it to me?"

Hinata giggled at his excitement about the chance of learing a new technique, and said "I'm sure I could teach it to you, but it would not be anywhere near as effective as my use, since you don't have the byakugan."

Naruto had a huge smile on his face and gave Hinata another kiss, before saying "So how did your battle with Akarui go?"

Hinata grinned and said "It went quite well, and he got what was coming to him. Although I learned something very interesting about my kidnapping attempt. So here is how it went…"

**(Flashback no Jutsu)**

As Hinata and Akarui walked along, they were carefully examining each other. Hinata first observed his appearance. Akarui was a dark skinned man of around 5'11". He had shaggy white hair that reached down to the back of his neck, and covered his right eye. He appeared to be wearing an eye-patch that went and covered his right eye. He wore the standard sleeveless Kumo uniform, and on his left shoulder was the tattoo of the kanji for "Gale". On his right shoulder was the tattoo of the kanji for "Thunder". On both of his palms were tattoos of the kanji for "Hurricane". He held himself with a calm, cool confidence.

Akarui spoke up and said "You know missy, it's not very bright of you to go up against me. I'm a Kumo nin, and as an unsealed Hyuuga, you should definitely not be walking so brightly to your fate. When I beat you, I will take your eyes so that those bastards on the civilian council will finally be done with their Byakugan obsession and I can go back to the village once more. I mean seriously, they went against the Raikage's orders and tried to take the Hyuuga heir straight from the Hyuuga compound ten years ago. In my opinion, that mission was doomed to failure in the first place, as it had not come from the Raikage."

Hinata flinched at his words as bad memories flooded back and said in a low voice "I'll have you know that _I_ was the Hyuuga heiress that they tried to take ten years ago. But I do find it interesting that you said that it was the civilian council who gave those orders. It seems our villages have something in common, meddling civilians. I will also have you know that I will NOT be losing to you. Not on my pride as a Hyuuga. Never will I have pride at once being in that horrible clan. But on my pride as a Namikaze and on the pride of being the future Hokage's wife!"

Akarui whistled and said "Wow, I must say that your heart shines brightly. But it still does not change the fact that you are going to lose."

Hinata said in a low voice "We'll see about that."

They then arrived at their destination, and stood a ways from each other. Hinata took out Shin'en and started whirling it around by its chain.

Akarui whistled again and said "A kusarigama, eh? That's an interesting-"

He was interrupted by Shin'en suddenly flying at him. He dodged just in time, but Hinata pulled back on its chain and sent it flying back. Akarui tried dodging again, but he was nicked in the shoulder. He instantly felt his arm go limp and his chakra being disrupted. Hinata smirked, but was a bit unnerved by the fact that Akarui was still smiling.

"That's quite the interesting weapon that you have there, missy. It fits perfectly for an ex-Hyuuga. But I'll tell you a little secret about me. I have another nickname in the cloud. I'm known as "Kumo's anti-Hyuuga". Now I suggest you activate that Byakugan of yours, and watch closely."

Hinata activated her Byakugan and watched in shock as Akarui sent a huge shock of lightning chakra through his entire body. Akarui then flexed his previously numb arm and said "Can you see why that Kumo brightly calls me that?"

Hinata said grimly "You send a flash of lightning chakra throughout your body, which would reopen any closed tenketsu, as well as unnumbing any part of your body. It looks like Shin'en is not the weapon to use against you."

Akarui clapped and said "Aren't you the bright one, missy. A pure Hyuuga would never stand a chance against me, because I can reopen my tenketsu and they rely only on Jyuken to win. However, you seem to have obviously deviated from the Hyuuga's strict ways, so maybe I can have a fun fight with you. Now let me show you why I am called "The Thundering Gale of Kumo!"

He then flew through some handsigns and held out both palms, saying "**Combination Storm Release and Thunder Release: Hurricane Release: Grand Storm!**"

Out of his hands came out a giant tornado of lighting and lasers, shooting quickly at Hinata. She was forced to drop Shin'en, and quickly unsheathed Nijitanken, and held them out to greet the incoming twister. Akarui was smirking, thinking "_If she thinks that those two daggers will stop my Grand Storm, then she is not as bright as I thought she was…unless…SHIT!_"

"SHIT" was exactly the right thing for Akarui to think as the twister collided with Nijitanken. The storm was slowly absorbed into the blades, causing them to turn dark blue then yellow, before causing the blades to turn green before finally turning clear again.

Hinata smirked and said to Akarui's worried face "It seems that you have at least heard of the blades that I use. Although I am quite impressed with you, you created your own kekkei genkai by taking the two elements used for your Storm Release and combining them backwards. You then combined your two kekkei genkai into a third. That takes real skill and is something that is unheard of except in the blades that my boyfriend uses. But you picked the wrong opponent to use that against. Let's see how you like a taste of your own power!"

She held out Nijitanken which turned green and shot out the exact same technique that Akarui had just used. Akarui countered with his own Grand Storm. There was a huge explosion when the two storms met, and when it cleared, Akarui looked to where Hinata had been standing to see an ice mirror with Hinata standing inside of it. He got a huge sense of foreboding and quickly reached up to his face and tore his eyepatch off.

He whirled around to find an ice mirror with Hinata lunging out of it. She struck out with Nijitanken, but he dodged just in time and quickly scurried back to the other side of the room. Hinata was standing there in, shock, as she saw what was behind his eyepatch in that little exchange. She quickly gathered herself once more and said "How?"

Akarui laughed and said "Oh, this?" as he held up his hair to reveal an activated Byakugan. He continued by saying "I beat an unsealed Hyuuga a long time ago. Interestingly enough, he already had one eye taken from him. That was the very reason that I was banished by the civilian council of Kumo. I refused to give up the eye for research and implanted it within myself. Now the real fight begins!"

Akarui's body surged with lighting chakra, and he practically warped in front of Hinata. He made a quick left hook to her face but she leaned back just in time. But that was what Akarui wanted to happen. He then took his right hand and held it strait, charging it with lightning chakra, and thrust it straight at Hinata's unprotected stomach.

Hinata's mind was going a mile a minute as she thought "_I have to do something to dodge this! If I don't, while I would be able to heal it, he would just kill me while I do so. There's not enough time to flood myself with Yokai, and Hiraishin is out since I have not mastered the full long distance travel and there are no seals for it nearby. I only have one choice, and it's not a complete technique. But with no other option, I guess I have to try! __**SORIME!**__"_

Akarui's hand was an inch from Hinata's stomach when there was a bright flash of lavender. Akarui's hand continued and he was thrown off balance as he hit nothing. Quickly searching with his Byakugan, he found Hinata standing in the opposite side of the dome. He turned and said "Well that was unexpected. I thought I had you. But no matter, I have just proven that my speed surpasses yours, so it's only a matter of time."

Hinata said grimly as she sheathed Nijitanken "Your speed surpassed me then. I wasn't ready, but now I am. I'll show you a technique that not even my father could possibly hope to reproduce."

There was a sudden outpouring of lavender chakra, and when it settled, Hinata was standing there in a lavender chakra shroud. She then took a stance similar to the standard Jyuken one, and she said "**Juho: Tsuinkitsuneken!**" Her hands were both engulfed in shrouds of chakra that both resembled fox heads.

Akarui let out a laugh and said "A jyuken stance? Even if it looks a little different than the normal one, I thought that you learned that jyuken has no effect on me!"

He then warped in front of Hinata and let out a right hook. She danced around the punch, so he tried to clothesline her with his outstretched arm. She simply ducked under his arm. Akarui was getting irritated, and he sped up his blows a bit. But Hinata simply danced around all of his punches. Akarui was getting _very _annoyed that Hinata was making a complete fool of his speed, and said while still trying to hit her "Why can't I hit you? And why are you not even trying to hit back?"

Hinata had been smirking the entire time that Akarui was trying to hit her, and she said "It's quite simple. I am faster than you in the state I am in, and I am no where near my fastest. This chakra cloak is the weakest that I can make it. As for why I am not hitting you, I want a good workout before I end the battle. I got what I more than what I hoped for in your kekkei genkais, but earlier I was taking the battle to lightly and you put me in a tight spot because of it. But I have to thank you, as you allowed me to complete a technique. Now that I am a little serious, I thought that I should have a little fun."

Akarui was seriously pissed off at what she said, and screamed "YOU WERE HOLDING BACK THE ENTIRE TIME?! HOW DARE YOU MAKE A MOCKERY OF ME! I'LL SHOW YOU-"

Akarui was interrupted by Hinata deciding that she would hit back. She lightly tapped Akarui's shoulder with one of her Tsuinkitsuneken, and he fell down, screaming in pain. He tried surging his lightning chakra through his body, but found that it had no effect. He looked closely at his shoulder with his Byakugan, and was horrified at what he saw.

He saw that all of the tenketsu in his shoulder were completely obliterated, completely cutting off the flow of chakra from his body to his arm. The chakra in his arm was fading quickly away since it was not connected to the source. And what scared him even more was that there was still some of Hinata's lavender Yokai inside of him, leeching slowly to the nearby tenketsu. The Yokai reached one of his tenketsu and proceeded to shut it down. The pain that he felt when it did this was almost unbearable, and he screamed as the Yokai found another tenketsu to shut down.

Hinata smirked and said "My yokai will slowly travel through your body, shutting down every one of your tenketsu, until it reaches the tenketsu in your heart. When it shuts down that one, you will die. While I could let that happen, and I estimate it would take thirty minutes, I won't. I have to check on my Ruto-kun to make sure that he is not to seriously hurt. So I will end your life quickly."

Hinata tapped Akarui's forehead, causing his brain to literally melt, killing him instantly. She then took out a scroll and sealed his body inside. She picked up Shin'en, and then extended her Byakugan's vision to look at the entrance room, and found Naruto leaning on Kadouken. She focused and saw the state of his ribs. Horrified, she focused on the area right in front of him, and thought "_**Sorime**_", causing her to disappear in a lavender flash.

**(Flashback no Jutsu KAI!)**

"And that's how my battle with Akarui went." Finished Hinata.

"I'm really proud of you Hina-chan!" said Naruto, while inwardly he shuddered "_I am never, EVER, going to piss Hina-chan off. I saw what the Tsuinkitsuneken did to that man on the bridge when she wasn't in a chakra shroud, but hearing what it does when she is in the shroud is horrifying. That and the fact that she can warp anywhere in her vision with Sorime means that she could easily catch me even if I ran at full speed in orange flash mode."_

Hinata, having no clue what Naruto was thinking, gave him a passionate kiss before saying "While we wait for Zabuza-san and Haku-chan, why don't we seal away some of these bodies?"

"Great idea Hina-chan!" replied Naruto, "It looks like Han had enough sense to not boil their faces, so that they are still recognizable, meaning that their bounties will be easy to claim."

With that they set to work.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. I only put in Hinata's fight in this chapter because I have a dentist appointment to go to soon, and I don't have the time to put in another fight. It goes along the lines that I like to post what I have done if I have anything substantial done. I might do another chapter later today to make up for one of the two days that I didn't post a chapter, but we will see.**

**Anyways, I'm not going to put an omake in this chapter for the same reason that I didn't put another fight in.**

**So until next time,**

**Slice N Dicer**


	23. Chapter 22: The fight for Gato part 3

**(A/N) And I'm back from the dentist's! I figured I would write another fight, and make up one of the chapters I owe you for not getting them done daily. Not much to say, although there is one review I would like to go over.**

**Junior the Wolf: I never knew that "twin fox fists" could be translated to Soukoken. I had been individually translating the words into Japanese before last chapter and putting them together, but I started using Google translate to translate phrases so that I could come up with the word for Warping white eye, Sorishirome, last chapter. While Soukoken is shorter and has a nice ring to it, I think that Tsuinkitsuneken sounds cooler, yet it still is pretty easy on the tounge. So I will keep her jutsu as Tsuinkitsuneken, as it is uniquely mine.**

**Also, I would be happy if someone would create some art based on my story. Like pictures of what I have Naruto and Hinata look like in their Hanyou forms, and the weapons that they use. If someone could make those, I would be extremely happy if you shared them with me. In particular, if you made a good picture of Naruto and Hinata in their Hanyou forms doing something (kissing, hugging, standing with their weapons at the ready, whatever), then I could use it as the story picture with your permission of course.**

**Anyways, on with the show!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 22: The Fight for Gato part 3

Naruto and Hinata had just finished sealing all of the bodies with bounties into scrolls, when Haku walked in. Hinata activated her Byakugan to check for injuries, and she saw that her right shoulder had been dislocated and a few of her ribs were cracked. She also had a few pinpoint holes in her right arm. Overall, her condition was much better than what Naruto's was, even if he had only been hit once **(A few cracks is much better than completely shattered with a few pieces piercing a lung)**. She was also completely soaked to the bone, but she wasn't shivering. She also looked completely exhausted.

"Haku-chan, come over here and I'll start healing you." Said Hinata.

"Thank you, Hinata-chan, I appreciate it." Replied Haku as she walked over to Hinata.

Hinata got to work with her lavender foxfire, and in no time at all, she was fine. It also had the side effect of drying Haku's clothes.

Naruto spoke up and said "So how did your fight with that Kiri nin go?"

"Well it certainly was interesting, to say the least. She really deserved that title of "The Human Floodgate". Never would I have expected for water to be able to be effectively used against my ice. Here is how it went…"

**(Flashback no Jutsu)**

Haku and Puchame were walking silently through the tunnel to their destination. Puchame was a small framed girl with fair skin who had light blue hair hung down to her shoulders. She wore a light blue dress **(similar to Mei Terumi's) **that showed off a little cleavage **(C-cup)**. She had black knee high boots, and had black gloves that extended to her elbows. Her eyes were purple, and she had two light blue earrings.

Puchame spoke up and said "Haku, right? Why do you want to be known as "The Frozen Wasteland?"

Haku replied, saying "Two reasons. The first is that I am the last living user of Hyoton. I won't tell you the second, but you might see it during our fight."

With that, they reached their dome. They stood a ways from each other before Puchame made the first move. She flew through some hand signs and said "**Suiton: Assaku Sentakki!**" **(Water Release: Pressure Washer)**

Puchame shot a highly pressured stream of water out of her mouth at Haku, who responded with a "**Hyoton: Shomen Kabe!**" **(Frontal Wall) **creating a meter thick wall of ice in front of her. The jet of water met the ice, and to Haku's surprise, the ice started to crack. Puchame was still releasing the jutsu from her mouth, so the wall started to crack even more. Haku then said "**Hyoton: Jihatsu Koo!**" **(Instant Freeze) **and the wall repaired itself, as well as the ice started creeping up Puchame's stream towards her. Seeing her jutsu being frozen, Puchame cut off the stream. She then took advantage of Haku not being able to see her from behind the wall and said "**Suiton: Mizuhari!**" **(Water Needles)**, spitting out five extremely focused needles of water at the figure behind the wall. The needles pierced straight through the wall, and found their marks in Haku's right arm. They went straight through her arm, and continued, piercing the dome, which started to leak a little water. Haku realized that the wall was doing no good, and melted it back into water, which splashed to the ground.

Puchame smirked and said "Looks like first blood goes to me. I wonder if you will be able to use that arm of yours."

Haku let out a grim smile and said "I can still use it. You missed all of my tendons, and only made minor cuts to my muscles." Haku then said "**Hyoton: Makyo Hyosho!**" **(Demonic Ice Mirrors)**, creating a set of mirrors all around Puchame, before stepping into them. She reflected herself upon all of the mirrors and said "Let's see how you handle this!"

The mirrors reflected her going through hand signs, and she said "**Hyoton: Kakomi Koori Hari!**" **(Encircling Ice Needles)**, before hundreds of ice needles shot out of each of the mirrors.

Puchame went as quickly as she could through hand signs, and just before she was going to become a human pincushion, she shouted "**Suiton: Kozui Nami!**" **(Flood Wave)**, and a massive amount of water surged off her entire body, pushing away the needles, and when it met the mirrors, it shattered them. Haku jumped out of the mirror she was in to avoid being shattered herself, but the force of the water continued, and it swept her into the side of the dome with such force that it cracked not only the dome, but a few of her ribs as well.

Haku groaned in pain, but she saw that Puchame was panting as well. Apparently Kozui Nami was a very chakra extensive technique. Pushing through her pain to take advantage of her opponent's tired state, Haku got up and walked towards Puchame. Taking out some senbon, she let them fly. Puchame barely dodged the senbon, but Haku sent a second wave of senbon, which hit key points in her legs, causing them to become immobile. Haku continued walking towards Puchame, but Puchame had a better idea.

Puchame flew through hand signs, causing Haku to take a defensive stance, and start making handsigns of her own, but she was too late. Puchame shouted **"Suiton: Seki!" (Floodgate)**, and unleashed her strongest jutsu out of her mouth. The sheer amount of water that came out of her mouth was ridiculous.

Seeing the practical tsunami surge towards herself, Haku braced herself and switched up the handsigns that she was making. Taking the full impact of Puchame's jutsu, Haku felt her right arm dislocate. However she had just finished her hand signs, and said **"Hyoton: ****Jihatsu Koo**", sending her instant freeze up the torrent of water. However, the sheer amount of water was too much for Haku to freeze, and it pushed through what little was frozen, so the water continued to take Haku towards the side of the dome. She crashed into it, causing huge cracks to appear in the glass, but the flood woudn't stop. Haku started to panic a little, as she heard the glass groan against the pressure.

"_I have to use that jutsu, or else I'll die!"_ thought Haku, as she started going through one handed hand signs.

Just as the glass to the dome shattered, causing the rest of the dome to shatter as well, Haku finished her strongest jutsu. She screamed out **"HYOTON: REITO ARECHI!" (Frozen Wasteland).** The glass of the dome fell to the ground, but no water got in. In place of the dome of glass, was a thickening dome of ice, and the floor became coated in a thick sheet of ice. Puchame's jutsu quickly became frozen, and the ice traveled along the floodgate and froze Puchame's insides, turning her into a human Popsicle.

Haku let out a huge sigh of relief, as she had not expected her jutsu to actually replace the dome, as she was hoping she could pull it off before the dome shattered. She then skated over to Puchame's frozen body, and broke her off of the frozen floodgate. She then sealed Puchame's body in a scroll, before starting to walk back to the entrance.

**(Flashback no Jutsu KAI!)**

"…and that's how it went." Finished Haku.

Hinata said "You did great Haku-chan", while Naruto was thinking "_Here is another girl that I really don't want to piss off. While she is not as scary as Hina-chan, I think that her Reito Arechi jutsu could hold out against my foxfire, after hearing how it stopped that floodgate jutsu. That alone is a very scary thought, as I can't think of to much else that could hold my foxfire back."_

It was then that an extremely bloody Zabuza made his presense known to everyone by saying "Well it looks like I am the last to get here, who would have thought?" before he collapsed on the ground.

Hinata immediately rushed to him and started healing him, while an extremely worried Haku looked on. His body had an immeasurable amount of cuts on it, some deep while others shallow.

While healing him, Hinata looked over him with her Byakugan and said "He has no internal injuries of any sort, or any broken bones. It just looks like he went through a blender."

A few tense minutes later, Zabuza woke up. He groaned and said to Hinata "Thanks missy. That guy was better than I thought he would be. I bet you guys are wondering why I look like I've been through a blender. Here's how it went…"

**(Flashback no Jutsu)**

Zabuza and Jack were walking together towards their destination. Jack was around the same height as Zabuza, and of the same complexion too. However, that is where the similarities between the two ended. He had short, messy blond hair and light green eyes. He wore a scratched out Kiri headband around his neck. He wore a dark blue long sleeved shirt with extremely wide sleeves. He had black ninja pants with a shuriken pouch tied to his right leg, and wore black ninja shoes. The most peculiar thing about his outfit was the large scroll he had on his back. He held it vertical like a backpack via two straps that he had connected to the scroll.

Zabuza said gruffly "I take it that that scroll is where you hold all of your weapons?"

Jack chuckled and said "Yes. Well most of them anyways. But you'll see during our fight. And how about we make our fight a weapons only fight? No jutsus."

Zabuza chuckled and said "Very well, that ought to be fun. We will prove who is the better weaponsmaster.

They finished walking in silence.

When they got to their dome, they stood aways from each other and Zabuza said "I'll let you take out your first weapon. Make a good choice."

Jack chuckled and reached an arm back and unrolled part of the scroll. With a poof, he held a wakazashi in his hand.

Zabuza charged while thinking "_A wakazashi, eh? That means that he will most likely try to outspeed me." _He slashed at Jack with kurikiribocho, fully expecting Jack to dodge, but to his surprise, Jack blocked with his wakazashi. Jack slid a little across the ground, but he managed to hold his own. He then surprised Zabuza by releasing one of his hands from his wakazashi, and making another wakazashi slide into his other hand from within his shirt. While Zabuza's blade was preoccupied with the first wakazashi, Jack took a slash at Zabuza with the other. Zabuza tried to dodge, but he got hit with the tip of these blade in the chest, causing a light slash to appear.

Zabuza backed away and said "I went in fully expecting you to try and outspeed me. That little maneuver with the wakazashi in your shirt was unexected."

Jack grinned and said "I aim to please," before making a slashing motion with his arms, causing a dozen kunai to fly at Zabuza. Zabuza blocked with the flat edge of Kurikiribocho, but Jack quickly closed in the distance with his wakazashis. They danced in a flurry of slashes, but the speed of Jack's blade fully outclassed Zabuza's, resulting in Zabuza beginning to get sliced up. Finally, Zabuza saw an opening and unleashed a mighty slash, which Jack blocked with both blades. However the force behind the slash was to strong, and Jack noticed cracks appearing in both wakazashis. He quickly leapt back as both blades shattered.

Dropping the broken blades to the ground, Jack pulled out a double edged Kusarigama, whirled it around for a moment, and then hurled it at Zabuza. Zabuza dodged the incoming Kusarigama, and was expecting Jack to pull it back, when Jack made another slashing motion with his free arm, sending in more kunai. Zabuza again blocked with Kurikiribocho, and looked to see Jack charging at him with a katana, kusarigama completely forgotten. They clashed, and this time the weapons matchup was more even, resulting in both combatants taking a few hits. The clash ended with the same result as the last one, with Zabuza's superior blade causing Jack's to shatter.

Jack stepped back again and this time summoned a naginata from his scroll. Zabuza charged again and was met with Jack skillfully keeping him from coming close with the range of the naginata. However, this did not last long, as Zabuza decided to take a hit in exchange for giving one to Jack. Zabuza timed it so that Jack's naginata impaled his chest in a non-vital spot. He then slashed down with Kurikiribocho, causing a huge laceration to appear down Jack's chest. Zabuza then grabbed the handle of the naginata that was still in him and jumped back, wrenching it out of Jack's grip. He then removed the blade from his chest with a grunt. Tossing it to the ground, he charged Jack once more.

Jack barely had time to pull out another katana before Zabuza was on him. They clashed once more with Zabuza having the advantage this time, as the huge wound from earlier slowed Jack down. Jack received many more cuts than Zabuza in this exchange, and he was forced back into a corner. Feeling the glass dome against his back, and seeing Zabuza's blade coming down to slice him in half, Jack did something desperate. He collapsed to the ground on purpose, and Zabuza's blade was stopped by it cutting into the thick glass dome, but not cutting all the way through. Seeing that his plan worked, Jack leapt back up and delivered a huge slash to Zabuza's back. Zabuza just grunted at the blow, and yanked Kurikiribocho out of the glass dome. He turned to face Jack and saw him taking the scroll off of his back.

Jack then unrolled the scroll part way and held it in front of Zabuza. He then channeled a huge amount of chakra into the scroll. The scroll responded by sending a huge amount of weapons flying at Zabuza extremely quickly.

Zabuza didn't even have time to dodge or block. He was hit by the barrage of various weapons full on. When the barrage subsided, Jack was amazed to see Zabuza still standing, even if he looked like a human pincushion.

Zabuza started laughing and said "Is that all you got?" as he started picking the weapons out of his body. "Let me show you why they call me "The demon of the hidden mist!"

Zabuza flared his chakra and he was covered in his demon shroud. He started charging at Jack at a speed that was faster than previously. Jack barely pulled out a blade to block Zabuza's oncoming slash in time, but it made no difference, as Kurikiribocho cleaved straight through the blade, carving a huge mark across Jack's chest. Defenseless, Jack could do nothing to stop the match's final slash. Zabuza's made a huge horizontal slash, cleaving through Jack's body like it was butter, cutting him in half.

Satisfied with his fight, Zabuza sealed Jack's two halves in a scroll, and he muttered "I guess my mastery won." Before he headed back towards the center.

**(Flashback no Jutsu KAI!)**

"…and then I came back here." Finished Zabuza.

Naruto chuckled and said "I'm really glad that you are on our side. You seem to just be too stubborn to die. Anyways, if you are ready, let's get that slimy shrimp."

Zabuza cracked his neck with a few satisfying pops, and said "I'm ready as I'll ever be, let's get the bastard."

The group headed towards the solid iron dome that they saw the shrimp scurry to. When they got to it, they found a solid iron door blocking their way. Naruto was completely unphased, and he took out Soshi Kiba and lit them with sear. Using sear, he carved through the iron like it was butter, and created a door for them.

They all stepped in to find Gato standing there in shock. The shrimp stuttered out "How…how…did you beat my guards? They were elite! And you are uninjured! This is impossible!"

Naruto chuckled and said "Yes we beat them, but we did not escape uninjured. It's only because Hina-chan is one of the best healers in the world that Zabuza and I are still alive. But now your time is up, Gato. You will pay for what you have done to the wave."

Naruto slowly advanced towards Gato with sear still activated on Soshi Kiba, and the shrimp started begging "No! No! Please don't kill me! I'll give you money! I'll make you rich beyond your wildest dreams! I'll-"

Gato was silenced permanently by Naruto beheading him with one of his fangs. Naruto looked down at Gato's headless body and said "Money doesn't make the man. Besides, I am already rich beyond my wildest dreams."

With that said, he sealed up Gato's body in a scroll, and turned to the group and said "Well now that that's over with, how about we take a look around for what Gato was keeping?"

They looked around the iron dome and found an extremely secure looking vault. Well, secure to most people. Sear cut through the vault like it was nothing. Inside, they found a huge amount of riches. They also found a list containing evidence of all of the underhanded deals that Gato had made. Sealing the riches inside a scroll, they headed back out to the entrance dome. Following the path once more, they arrived outside to where the abandoned shack had once been.

Once out, they found Kakashi running towards them. They stopped him and Naruto said "Kakashi-san, why are you here?"

The out of breath Kakashi responded "I came here as backup. You were taking a while and I just couldn't sit there, so I came. But I see that you have apparently finished, so I came for nothing. How did it go down?"

Walking back to Tazuna's house, Naruto recounted their tale.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap! I put both Haku and Zabuza's fights into one chapter, as well as Gato's fate. We are just about done with the land of waves! Just next chapter, and I think we will be back in Konoha. Then I can start telling the stories of what happens before the chunin exams, and then we have the chunin exams! I can't wait to get there! They are going to be awesome.**

**Anyways, on with the omake!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Wheel of torture chapter 13

The root members really never learn their lesson. One would think that they would have by now, but obviously, Danzo never taught them how to learn from their mistakes.

So today the wheel stopped on "Metroids".

The root members were absolutely horrified at the gelatinous jellyfish like creatures that appeared.

With good reason.

The metroids latched onto the root members and proceeded to suck their energy dry.

They left their lifeless husks to rot as the metroids poofed back to Tallon IV.

Apparently, root had never developed the morph ball bomb either (go figure).

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's the omake. Not as funny as my other ones, and quite violent, but I can't get Metroid Prime out of my head as I listen to the game's soundtrack as I type these chapters. I absolutely love the Metroid Prime games, and the games' soundtrack is my all-time favorite in video game music.**

**Until next time,**

**Slice N Dicer**


	24. Chapter 23: The Great Kitsune Bridge

**(A/N) And we are back once again. Sorry about not giving you a chapter yesterday. I do two chapters in one day to get rid of my chapter debt, but then I just go and not do one the next day. So now I'm back where I started.**

**On to other things, I absolutely loved the latest manga chapter. It again proved to me that Hinata is awesome. She has moved forwards once again, mastering the full 64 palms by remembering her holding Naruto's hand. It is a very good sign for Naruhina that Kishimoto bothered to put a flashback to that event in the chapter. Then she goes and uses Juho: Shoshiken, which is my second favorite of her techniques (my first is Shugohakke Rokujuyon Sho, but that technique is technically a filler one). But that was just the Hinata parts. Kiba's Cerberus technique is completely badass, and InoShikaCho's Human Bullet Yoyo is hilarious and destructive at the same time. Finally, the triple summon in the last panel is awesome, especially Gamakichi, who looks way too much like his dad now.**

**Also, I've been rereading a lot of fanfics that I had previously read on my phone, so I marked several of them as favorites. Feel free to check them out. Every single one is Naruhina.**

**Finally, I've noticed a slight drop in the amount of reviews that I have been getting. That makes me sad, but I know that only a few people bother with leaving their thoughts. But I will take the reviews, no matter how long or short they are (although I like long reviews that I can comment on)! I would like to thank a few of my more consistent reviewers. So thank you very much Lord Farsight, Shi-No-Ookami, chaos267, Junior the Wolf, .3762, Hee-ho Master, DanteShindo, and finally the omnipresent "Guest" (I consider all reviews from guests to be from the same person. Even if that person has a severe multi-personality disorder).**

**Anyways, on with the chapter! (Be warned, I reference sex a fair deal in one part of this chapter)**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 23: The Great Kitsune Bridge

Kakashi was completely dumbfounded by the tale that Naruto told. The fact that they had a casual conversation with Han of the steam armor, and were still alive, especially Naruto, completely astounded him. Then there was the fact that they went up against four people whose names were well known to Kakashi. Kuroyurasu was very well known throughout the lands for being nigh on impervious to damage. Akarui was known for being the second strongest in Kumo, after the Raikage. Kakashi had always wondered why he had defected. Jack Trades was known primarily for his unmatched mercenary work. And finally Puchame was known for inventing the jutsu that gave the moniker she went by. Suiton: Seki was one of the most powerful water jutsus in terms of sheer force, and was a jutsu that all Suiton users strived to master.

So after Naruto finished his story, Kakashi was completely silent the whole rest of the way to Tazuna's house. When they reached his home, it was around six in the morning, so Tazuna was up, as he had gotten used to waking up early to work on his bridge. He greeted them when they entered, and he was quite surprised that none of them had injuries. So he asked "Did you actually do it?"

Naruto grinned and pulled out a scroll. He unsealed both parts of Gato's body from it and said "Does this answer your question?"

Tazuna was extremely happy to see Gato without his head connected to his body, so he said "Well I guess that's it then. The wave is now completely free! I can't wait to tell the village the news! You all are heroes!"

Naruto grinned and said "Heroes, eh? I like it. Now there is the small issue of the money that Gato was holding in his vault. I have it all contained in a scroll. Based on my calculations, it averages to be about 50 million ryo. It's all yours, just share it among the people of the wave. Also, I would like to suggest that you go visit Gato's underwater hideout when you have the time. With the right adjustments, it would make an amazing underwater resort. There is even a dome of ice that could be used for ice skating, thanks to Haku-chan here. Also, we have a lot of bodies with decent bounties that we need to cash, so after we do that, we'll send you the money from that, after the leaf village takes a small cut from it. Don't worry about paying for the mission now, we'll include the fees when we take our cut of the bounties."

Naruto handed Tazuna the scroll containing Gato's riches, and Tazuna took it with a shaking hand. He stood there for a moment before tears started pouring from the old man's eyes, and he said "There is nothing that I can do to ever repay the kindness that you have shown me. You truly are heroes. But before you all head back to your village, I implore you to stay with us and celebrate our new freedom."

Hinata giggled and said "I'm sure we can all stay a few more days, Tazuna-san. There's no harm in relaxing a bit, right Kakashi-san?"

The look that Hinata was shooting Kakashi told him everything. It told him that if he did not stay for a while to let the village show its gratitude, then terrible things would befall him. So Kakashi nervously said "A-all right. We can stay three more days. But no longer!"

Hinata released her gaze, and Kakashi visibly relaxed and thought "_How is she so damn scary? I really don't want to know what would have happened if I chose to leave."_

Hinata then turned to Tazuna and said "Ruto-kun and I are going into the forest so that we can catch up with our rest. We'll come to the celebration later."

Tazuna nodded at her statement and Naruto and Hinata left to go back to the clearing that they had slept at.

**(With Naruto and Hinata)**

When they arrived at the flowery clearing, Naruto immediately plopped to the ground, with Hinata right on top of him. They kissed a bit before Hinata said "For a mission that started screwed up, I think we managed to turn it around."

Naruto chuckled and said "Yeah, it turned out alright. But meeting Han made me realize that we still have a long way to go, and that there are still people out there who we stand no chance at."

Hinata kissed him again before saying "Then we'll just have to keep training. The battles we had down in the domes were our first real fights against enemy ninja, and they revealed some of our weaknesses. The biggest one that I see in both of us, but mainly me, is that we play around too much in the beginning of our fights. While it is good to feel out our opponents before hitting full strength, we shouldn't toy with them, especially if they are experienced. I nearly died because I wasn't using anything close to my full speed, and if I didn't master Sorime in that instant, then both of us wouldn't be here, since you would have died from that hit you took if I didn't heal you."

"Well that's why we learn from our mistakes. I really should have recalled Kuroyurasu's entry in the bingo book before I fought him. I memorized the damn thing for a reason, so I really should use what I have. We may be strong, but we still have a lot to learn." Said Naruto.

"And learn we shall." Replied Hinata before she gave a huge yawn. "I guess that night took more out of me than I thought."

Naruto also yawned, and said "Me too. Let's get some rest."

With that, they cuddled close to each other, and drifted off to sleep.

**(7 hours later)**

Hinata woke up completely wrapped up by Naruto. He had her in a hug, with his legs entwined with hers. Even his tails were wrapped around her petite body. While she was quite comfortable like this, she wanted to go celebrate with the village. So she kissed Naruto's nose, waking him up.

"Mornin' Hina-hime." Mumbled out Naruto.

Hinata giggled and said "It's nowhere near morning, Ruto-kun. But why Hina-hime? I'm no longer a princess."

Naruto hugged her close and said "Your _my _princess, Hime, so don't go thinking otherwise. Besides, you're technically the new princess of the Namikaze clan."

Hinata giggled and said "If you say so…"

They proceeded to untangle their bodies, which lead to them getting certain _physical _reactions to each other's body. Hinata pressed her entire body against Naruto, and kissed him passionately. Her hands started snaking down to Naruto's pants, but she was stopped by Naruto grabbing her wrists.

"Not yet, Hime. Soon, I promise, but not now."

Hinata looked at him with a mixture of lust and annoyance and said "You better keep that promise. I refuse to wait much longer. My body has waited for that ever since you transformed me, but I've been patient. My patience is running out. I've been able to stave off going into heat using techniques that Kurama-sensei taught me, but they haven't stopped my desire. And I can't hold off much longer on going into heat either, the techniques only work so many times before they lose effect. If I go into heat, I can only guarantee one outcome. That is your dick being inside my vagina. You are on a time limit Naruto, either initiate it yourself, or I will take you whether you like it or not."

With that Hinata hopped away towards the village.

Naruto just stood there thinking "_Crap…I screwed up. I've been holding out on having sex with her all of these years, and she's at her limit. Now she's angry at me. Maybe I should have gone through with it just then. I know that I want to do it, but I just can't get the courage necessary to do it. Why the hell can't I just DO IT? I'm just torturing us and hurting our relationship the longer I wait. That's it, when we get back home, I'll do it, no exceptions, and no backing out!"_

With his resolve set firmly on his new goal, Naruto hopped after Hinata.

**(With Hinata)**

Hinata was jumping through the trees towards Tazuna's when she stopped on a tree branch. Turning to the tree trunk, she formed a fist and smashed the tree. Needless to say, the tree didn't stand a chance and broke in half. She then started angrily thinking to herself "_Why the hell won't he just do it! I've waited eight years for Kami's sake! I'm seriously thinking of stopping the countermeasures I use to hold off my heat, just so that we can get it over with! While not near as much as I want it, I know that he still wants it. I don't think that he realizes that whenever I arouse him, he releases pheromones that only I pick up. They completely drive me crazy! I get extremely wet whenever I smell them. I know that THAT particular smell only arouses him more, making even more of those damn pheromones! This positive feedback loop is going to kill me one day! I NEED him! I can't take this any longer, and I'll rape him if I have too!"_

While she had been thinking these things, she had been demolishing the forest around her. Finally snapping out of her thoughts, she observed what she had done and thought "_Woops! Maybe I was a bit too angry. At least I feel a lot better now."_

Suddenly Naruto's voice echoed through her head and said "_Hina-chan…I'm sorry. But I will live up to my promise, and we will have done it by the end of the week. Just hold out a little longer till we get back to our home._"

"_I'm not angry anymore Ruto-kun" _answered Hinata via her thoughts. "_And I'm glad to hear that you are commited. I'll wait at Tazuna's place for you, and then we can head down to the village."_

True to her word, Hinata waited at Tazuna's for Naruto. There was no one else there when she got there, so she entertained herself **(use your imagination, and ask "What would Hinata do in light of recent events")**. When Naruto arrived, she gave him a kiss to prove that she was no longer angry, and they headed down to the village.

When they got there, they were met with a huge amount of noise. Apparently, Tazuna had told of their parts to play in Gato's demise to the village, and they were immediately rushed by practically the whole village. They were thrown into the air by the strongest of the villagers, and the kids looked at them with stars in their eyes. Inari was at the lead of the children, proudly declaring "That's my nii-san and nee-chan! They are heroes!"

When Naruto and Hinata were finally let down by the villagers, they started to wander the village. To their surprise, they found food markets giving away food, and all sorts of stores were open and selling things. Apparently, some villagers had gone down into the domes and found all sorts of things.

They happened across Kakashi and Zabuza having a drinking contest (which Zabuza was winning). They found Haku by a pond which she had frozen, and she was skating around with people of all ages. Kiba was seen entertaining the kids by having Akamaru do tricks. To their amusement, they found Sasuke being chased by a horde of fangirls, with Sakura in the lead. Sasuke was thinking "_Why are they everywhere? Even when I'm not in the village, they are still there! I think that I might even hate them more than I hate my brother!"_

The party went on for three straight days, and Naruto and Hinata enjoyed every second of it that they were at. They only really left to go back to their clearing when they got tired, but after a nice rest, they were back at it once again.

At the end of the third day of the party, it was finally time to wrap up and head home. So currently, Teams 15 and 7, as well as Zabuza and Haku, were standing at the edge of the bridge, on the side that bordered the land of fire. The entire village was there to say farewell, and it was Inari who spoke up first.

"Nii-san, Nee-chan, do you really have to go?" asked the boy.

Hinata giggled and said "Sorry Inari-chan, but we have to get back to the hokage. We've been on this mission for longer than we probably should have. But I promise you that Ruto-kun and I will come back some day."

"Don't call me "Chan!" Was all Inari responded, but he had tears in his eyes. He clearly was going to miss them.

Tazuna sighed and said "So I guess this is it then. It's been a pleasure working with you, and we all hope to see you again, soon preferably. We are forever in Konoha's debt, and we will hire only leaf ninja for jobs from now on."

"If you keep that promise, then we will be happy. I'm sure that there are plenty of missions that you could send to us to help you guys rebuild. Konoha certainly won't say no." replied Kakashi. "But we really do have to go. I can tell that the Hokage is going to chew me out for staying so long."

Naruto had a quick mental conversation with Hinata, sending her into giggles, before saying to Kakashi "Well in that case, let's go!" He then scooped the giggling Hinata up bridal style, before vanishing in a flash of yellow.

Kakashi sighed and said "Well, he certainly has a flair for the dramatic, and now we really don't need to worry about getting to the Hokage immediately. However, knowing Naruto, he would think that it would be funny to wait until after we get back to report to the Hokage, so we should still go."

The village waved their goodbyes as the group turned and started to head out. Tazuna suddenly remembered something from when all of them had been there before, and said "We completely forgot to name the bridge!"

Inari then popped out and jumped on Tazuna's shoulders, and said "How about The Great Kitsune Bridge?"

Tazuna was thoughtful for a moment, before he said "The Great Kitsune Bridge, eh? I like it! That is what we will name it, in honor of the young foxes that saved our land."

**(With Naruto and Hinata)**

Speaking of those young foxes, they had just arrived via Hiraishin into their bedroom, and were heading to the gate. Hinata spoke up, saying "Are we really going to not report to the Hokage?"

Naruto grinned and said "Nah, we'll tell him everything. I just did this so that Kakashi would waste energy hustling home. It's an important part of pranking to be able to pull off pranks just by planting a seed of doubt into someone's mind."

Naruto had been walking slightly ahead of Hinata when they got to the gate. If Naruto had been paying attention, he could have saved himself some embarrassment by noticing the paw mark on the gate, but he didn't, so he walking straight into the gate, fully expecting to walk through it. However, he slammed into the gate and fell back, dazed. Looking up at the gate, he saw a large paw mark appear on the gate, glowing.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light, and it settled to reveal a white wolf with red markings and a large yellow glaive that pulsed with electricity on its back. The wolf snarled at Naruto, and began glowing again. This time it settled to reveal a beautiful, fair skinned woman of around 20, with pure white hair that had black highlights, and was dressed in a low cut white kimono that had black hems and shoulders. She had red markings throughout her body, and wore no shoes. Her eyes were a shade of yellow/orange that would remind anyone of a sunrise. She had a white wolf tail and matching wolf ears. On her back was the same glaive as before, but now she had a shield that gave off an astounding amount of multi-colored flames floating slightly off of her right arm, and had a necklace of blue beads that were shaped like magatama that floated gently in a circle around her neck. She had an aura that absolutely screamed "I am a goddess. Give me respect of pay the price!"

She took a few steps towards Naruto, than gave him a slap that only a pissed off goddess can give. Needless to say, Naruto got sent flying back around 50 feet. She then vanished in a flash of light, and reappeared in front of the downed Naruto in another flash. Hinata warped over in between them in a flash of lavender with Sorime, and held out her arms protectively in front of Naruto.

The goddess then looked past Hinata and said in a voice that was absolutely beautiful, yet at the same time, very scary "I'm completely disappointed in you, Minato-kun. You reject my offer to become a god and my mate, and for what? This…this _fox bitch_! I should have never fallen in love with you! I should punish you, but instead, I'll force you to watch as I rip apart this bitch that you left me for!"

She took a step towards Hinata, when Naruto screamed out "WAIT!"

The both Hinata and the goddess froze, so Naruto continued "My name is not Minato! My name is Naruto! I'm his son! And Hinata is _my _mate! If you hurt her, I promise that I will end your life, goddess or not!"

The goddess stopped and looked at Naruto's eyes. Eyes filled with many things. Fear, despair, and anger were definitely prominent, but the goddess saw that whenever he glanced over to the girl he called Hinata, they filled with absolute and undying love.

She calmed down a bit and said "You…you are not Minato. The amount of conviction in your promise is the same of that as the promise he gave me when he promised to help save Nippon, but your eyes, while they look the same, hold much more than Minato's. You have experienced the worst of what you humans have to offer. I'm sorry for hitting you. Do you know where your father is? I have not heard from him in a long time."

Hinata let out a sigh of relief, and Naruto said "My dad is dead. He's been dead for thirteen years, since the day I was born."

The goddess looked distraught for a moment, before she said "I am truly sorry to hear that. Minato-kun was a great man. If that is the case, then I will leave."

Naruto shouted "Wait" again, getting the goddess' attention, before saying "He's dead, but he is not truly gone." He then explained his life story, before finally saying "If you want, I can summon him here."

The goddess' sunrise colored eyes lit up with hope, and she replied "I would appreciate it if you did so."

Naruto went through the handsigns, and he performed the summoning jutsu. He had intended to just summon his dad, but when the smoke cleared, it revealed not just his dad, but his mom and Kurama.

Minato wasn't his usual confident self right now. Instead, he was currently cowering behind Kushina, who was looking at the goddess with a challenging look in her eye. Kurama just looked amused, but he kept glancing at the goddess with a look in his red eyes that made it seem like he was contemplating something.

Kushina spoke up and said "If you think you are going to steal my husband away from me, think again wolf bitch!"

The goddess stared at Kushina with an intense gaze. To the onlookers, it felt like the world would end if someone did something wrong. Suddenly, the goddess started laughing, and said "Wow! I've never met someone who holds that much conviction in their heart. I'm not going to stand up to you for the right to go after Minato-kun. You are the second most intriguing mortal that I have ever met! Minato-kun is the third, and the first is your son. He is quite clearly a perfect mix of you two. I won't go after Minato-kun any more, as you have proved yourself worthy to be his wife in my eyes. My name is Amaterasu, goddess of the sun, and master of the celestial brush. But you can call me Ammy!"

Kushina began laughing and said "I like you! My name is Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze, wife of Minato Namikaze, the fourth Hokage, and mother to Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. I was known in my youth as the "Hot-Blooded Habanero". But more recently, I was given the title of "The Red-Haired Demon."

All of the onlookers were thinking the same thing: "_Those two are so alike that it's scary. One moment they are mortal enemies, rivals for love, and then the next, they are the best of friends."_

Ammy laughed again and said "The Red-Haired Demon, eh? Nice title. Who gave it to you?"

Kurama then spoke up, saying "**That would be me. I gave it to her after she proved herself worthy in my eyes."**

Ammy looked over Kurama, blushed a little, and then said "And who might you be? You are quite obviously not mortal."

Kurama grinned and said **"I am known as the almighty Kyuubi no Kitsune! The most powerful of all the tailed demons! My name is Kurama!"**

Ammy giggled and said "Well, Kurama-_kun _, you don't look that vicious to me. In fact, you look like quite the handsome fox-man, if I do say so myself.

Kurama then did something that he would never live down in Naruto's eyes. He blushed at the goddess' compliment.

Ammy turned to Naruto and said "So you said earlier that Kurama-kun was sealed inside of you by Minato-kun? Well in that case, I've made up my mind. I hope that three extra minds inside of you wasn't too much, because you're about to have a fourth!"

Naruto was completely in shock at what she said, and he sputtered out "W-w-wait, what?! You're going to live inside of me?"

Ammy giggled and said "Yup! I want to get to know Kurama-kun a bit better, to see if he's a worthy man for me. And what better way to do that than to live with him! Don't worry, I'll pay rent by enhancing your senses to the level of a god, and maybe, if you're lucky, I'll teach you how to use the celestial brush."

Naruto focused and shook his head, then said "I won't let you be inside of me if it means that I will become stronger than my Hina-chan! I refuse to let her be any weaker than me!"

Ammy giggled and said "That is a level of devotion that I thought I would never see in mortals. But you are not exactly mortal are you? You are a Hanyou, and Hinata-chan is your mate. Appearently, Kurama-kun never told you about one of the side-effects of the mate mark you gave her. That being, that if any outside source gives you power, then that power will be reflected upon your mate, giving her what you received. So you don't have to worry your cute little head about that."

Naruto digested that information, and then said "Very well, you can stay, but only if Hina-chan gets what I get."

Kurama then spoke up and said **"While I am not opposed to this, I have to ask you one question Ammy. You are a goddess, correct? Do you not have a council in your own dimension that you rule over?"**

Ammy pouted before saying "Why did you have to remind me of the annoying council? They are always bickering, and I can't stand them! They may all be gods, but they can't get over their differences! But I guess that I do have to do something about them. Hmm…what to do, what to do? Oh, I know! Waka!"

Ammy clapped her hands together, and Waka appeared in a flash of light. **(His appearance is waaaaay to much of a pain to describe. If you want to know it, look it up on the Okami wiki)**

"Ah, what have you called me to this dimension for, _ma Cherie_?" asked the prophet.

"Waka, for an undetermined amount of time, you are to take my place in the council of the gods. I trust you to make good decisions, and keep the rest of the council in line. Also tell Issun that I will be away for a while. He is an honorary member of the council, and you should treat his opinions with respect, even if he is a perverted excuse for a sprite. Actually, ignore any of his decisions regarding women, or else the world will never be the same again." Answered Ammy.

"Very well, _mon amie_, it will be done." Responded Waka.

Waka then turned to Naruto and Hinata and said "I predict that you two will have a wonderful time in the upcoming exams. There will be a snake named after a demon and a large raccoon, as well as fun to be had with clouds and stones. Until next time, _Au revoir_!"

He then posed and said "Let's rock, baby!" before vanishing in a flash of light.

Ammy then cleared her throat and said "That man has always been a bit of a mystery to me. My dear friend Issun always called him "A Half-Baked Prophet". However, no matter how strange his predictions are, they always come true. Just be glad that he didn't dance with you this time. That was one of the most embarrassing things in my life. Anyways, Minato-kun, Kushina-chan, and Kurama-kun, you should all go back inside Naruto before I go in. I don't want any unexpected side effects."

The three in question nodded, and poofed away, but Naruto blurted out "Side-effects? Like what?"

Ammy giggled and said "Oh, you know, side-effects like your body exploding from having the stress of a goddess inside of it, that sort of thing. Now, let's get started!"

Ignoring Naruto's protests, Ammy enveloped herself in a flash of light, before crashing into Naruto's body. The light faded, and both Naruto and Hinata faded into blissful unconsciousness.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap! The wave ark is done, and now Ammy is here to stay! Blame Shi-no-Ookami and Junior the Wolf for putting that idea into my head. I have also set the stage for the upcoming lemon. You'll see next chapter what having Ammy will do for Naruto and Hinata, besides being another annoying voice in their heads.**

**Anyways, I'm not going to do an omake today, since its pretty late where I am, and I'm pretty tired. Coming up with a good omake is harder than writing the chapter sometimes!**

**So until next time,**

**Slice N Dicer**


	25. Chapter 24: Reporting In

**(A/N) And we are back. Sorry that I didn't get this done yesterday, instead of writing I was reading. I just get sucked in to good stories, and I can't get out once I'm in.**

**Most of you seemed to like that I've decided to include Ammy. I've also updated the story description, and I think it's a bit better now. I also updated the description of Ammy in the last chapter because I forgot a few things. First is that her hair is pure white with black highlights. Second is that her Kimono is not completely white. It has black streaks along the hem and shoulders.**

**I've PMed the answers to a few of my reviewers that had questions. I even told some of them about certain things in my story that haven't come up yet. So if you have a good question about the story, leave it in a review or PM, and I might give you information that nobody else knows.**

**I have decided on Haku's pairing, but I won't tell you guys. Wait two or three chapters and you'll find out!**

**Thank you very much soulfistx for pointing out errors in my Japanese. I have gone and fixed them. Can you believe that I was saying "Bushin" and not the correct "Bunshin?" But now it is fixed.**

**Anyways, on with the chapter!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 24: Reporting in

Naruto groggily woke up from his unexpected slumber to find Hinata groggily waking up on top of him. He rubbed his eyes and looked at her, and he immediately felt that something was off. Looking at Hinata, everything seemed so much _clearer_. He could see just how smooth her skin was, and every crease in her wrinkled tank-top. He then inhaled through his nose, and was hit with her scent. It had never been so clear before. It smelled of lavender, cinnamon buns, and himself. He also picked up on a sweet scent that was really starting to drive him crazy coming from her midsection. He immediately stopped breathing through his nose, as that scent was making his want for taking her come back extremely strongly, and lying in the middle of the yard was definitely not the place for _that._

Hinata was having a similar reaction. While her eyes had always had perfect vision due to an inherent trait of the Byakugan, when she had first become a Hanyou, her perfect vision became even better somehow. But now, it was on a whole other level! She began to notice things that she couldn't before, and she could clearly see each individual blade of grass up to twenty feet away from her. She then inhaled through her nose, and was met with Naruto's scent. Ramen, sweat, and herself, kami how she loved how he smelled. But now it was so much more intense. She also picked up on what she clearly recognized as his pheromones, resulting in a flow of liquid coming out of her pussy. It was making her extremely horny, and just as she was about to start ripping Naruto's clothes off, a voice rang through their heads.

"_Stop right there Hinata! You can have your fun time with Naruto-chan later. You have things to do first." _

Hinata growled and answered back in her head "_Ammy, I presume. Why stop me? He promised that we would do it when we got back, so why not now? His scents are driving me crazy!"_

The newly identified voice giggled and said "_Because you need to learn how to control your new senses first, or else you two will constantly be horny around each other due to the pheromones that you both release for each other. And before you think otherwise, I'm talking to you Hinata, that is a bad thing."_

Hinata growled again, and answered "_Fine, but you have to promise that when we do have sex, you will take all of Naruto's tenants and leave until we are done. He is mine and mine alone, and I won't share that moment with anyone!"_

Ammy giggled again and said "_Fine, fine, now let's get to work. Hinata, first you need to stop breathing through your nose. The pheromones that Naruto-chan is putting off are effecting your judgement."_ Hinata begrudgingly agreed, and to her surprise, her head felt clearer. Like she could actually pay attention to something other than Naruto. Ammy continued "_Now, as you two have noticed, both you sight and smell have been enhanced to the level of a god, but so have your taste, touch, and hearing. Both of you were paying too much attention to smell to notice the others though. Now that your senses are at that of a god, you have full control over them. You can focus your sight so that you have telescopic vision, or you could dim it so that you are blind, and anything in between for all five senses. It is my job to teach you how to do this. You don't want to be running around with full powered senses all of the time. I would say that a little bit over what changing into a Hanyou gave to you is a good medium. So let's get to work!_

They began various exercises to help train their control. Right before the touch exercise, Naruto spoke up to Ammy in his head and asked "_If we can dull our senses, then doesn't that mean if we dull our sense of touch enough we won't feel pain?"_

"_I'm impressed that you picked up on that before we went through the excersise, Naruto-chan. Yes, it does mean that you won't feel pain, but that is a bad thing, as pain is there for a reason. You should never completely dull your sense of touch, but you can dull it enough that the pain isn't excruciating. Now let's continue!" _answered Ammy.

Within the next half hour, they finished their sense control training. During the training, Ammy noticed something that honestly surprised her. So she brought it up by saying "_You both are extremely lucky."_

She was met with a simultaneous "_HUH?!" _from both Naruto and Hinata. Neither of them had ever considered themselves lucky before, as both of their childhoods sucked except for having each other.

Ammy rolled her eyes and continued "_Well, both of you are now subconsciously channeling celestial energy. There was only a 1% chance of that happening when I merged in. Therefore, you two are extremely lucky."_

_"What does that mean to us?" _asked Hinata.

"_It means that I will be teaching you both how to use the celestial brush. It also means that you two are the first ever demigod Hanyous in existence. How the celestial energy is not actively fighting you demonic energy is beyond me though. It also means that Hinata's Byakugan got an upgrade."_

Hinata was puzzled by what she meant by upgrade, so she activated her Byakugan and gasped at what she saw. She explained to everyone "_I can see 10 kilometers instead of 5 now. But even more amazing than that is that everything is now in color and I've lost the blind spot!"_

Naruto of course was extremely happy that he would be learning a new technique, so he blurted out in his head "_GREAT! When do we start?"_

Ammy groaned and said "_Later. Right now you two have to visit the Hokage and tell him about your mission. And you might as well tell him about me as well."_

Naruto looked a bit down, but then he noticed something suspicious about what Ammy said. So he said _"I never told you about our mission. How did you know about that?"_

Ammy giggled and said "_I went through your memories. I never would have guessed that you slept with that plush toy of-"_

"_HEY! THAT'S PRIVATE INFORMATION!"_

"_Well it's public to me now. Anyways, off you go to the Hokage!" _Finished up Ammy.

So Naruto and Hinata began heading towards the Hokage tower, with Naruto grumbling something about "Stupid goddesses and their stupid lack of a sense of privacy."

**(Hokage Tower)**

Hiruzen was sitting in his chair, currently worried about the state of Kakashi's team. But he was more worried about the team that he had sent after them. He had always seen Naruto as a grandson, and he was starting to see Hinata as a granddaughter. They should have been back by now, even if the mission had been upgraded to an A rank.

So he was completely surprised when there were two swirls of blue flames in front of him that died down to reveal Naruto and Hinata.

"Did you miss us old man?" asked Naruto.

While he was secretly extremely relieved to see the two Hanyou, he put on his Hokage mask of seriousness and said "Where have you two been? You should have been done a while ago."

Naruto grinned and said "Oh, lighten up old man. We know that you missed us. We just got a little side tracked. Here's what happened…"

**(One hour later)**

"… and that's what happened old man."

Hiruzen already had had a huge headache before, but now it was splitting. So he said "So let me get this straight. First you save Kakashi from Zabuza Momochi, one of the seven swordsman of the mist."

"Yup."

"Then you introduce yourselves and cut a deal with him."

"Yup."

"Then you beat him in a one on one fight WITHOUT getting injured."

"Yup."

"Then after he heals, he goes with you to the land of waves."

"Yup."

"Then you help the bridge builder finish his bridge in a quarter of the time that it was originally going to take."

"Yup."

"And then you form a strike force to kill Gato, a billionare with a fair amount of political protection."

"Yup."

"And on your way there, you meet Han of the steam armor."

"Yup."

"And you not only survive the encounter, but make him decide that he will become a Hanyou if you can beat him later on."

"Yup."

"Then you infiltrate Gato's base, only to find four henchmen left alive, due to the aforementioned Han."

"Yup."

"Then you each battle one of the henchmen a piece, each of them being very well known and very powerful missing nin."

"Yup."

"And each of you beats your opponent."

"Yup."

"And then you face off and kill Gato."

"Yup."

"Then you take everything from his vault."

"Yup, although here is a scroll we found in the vault containing info on all of his underhanded deals."

"And finally you give all of the money in the vault to the bridge builder so that he can rebuild his nation and spend three days partying, before you use the Hiraishin to return home."

"Yup."

Hiruzen groaned and slammed his head on his desk, and said "You two are going to be the early death of me, you know that?"

"Glad to hear that you missed us old man!"

Picking his head off his desk, Hiruzen asked "Is there anything else that you two have to tell me that could contribute to my earlier demise?"

Naruto got a thoughtful look on his face before saying "Oh yeah! I now have a fourth tenant that is a sun goddess!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"WHAT!?" screamed Hiruzen.

There was a bright flash of light, and it died down to reveal a slightly different Ammy, who promptly said "He's talking about me."

Hinata immediately picked up on the obvious difference to Ammy, and said "Why do you have a fox tail with your wolf tail, Ammy-chan?"

Sure enough, Ammy now had an orange fox tail with a white tips that flailed side by side with her wolf tail. Ammy winked at Hinata and said "Let's just say that I _convinced _Kurama-kun to make me his mate. Here, let me show you the mark!"

Naruto sensed what she was going to do, and immediately slapped his hand over his eyes, so as to avoid Hinata's wrath. He made it just in time, as Ammy grabbed her kimono and opened it up, letting her E-cup sized breasts jiggle out into view, clearly showing off her tattoo, as well as the fact that she apparently didn't wear bras.

Hinata glared at Ammy and said in a sweet voice "Ammy-chan, are you sure that you are not trying to seduce my mate? You are both lucky that he had the sense to cover his eyes. The only breasts that he will be seeing are MINE!"

Ammy giggled as she covered herself back up, and said "No, Naruto is yours and yours alone. But that doesn't mean that I can't tease him. Besides, I knew that the old man was a pervert and I just wanted to see how far he would fly.

Fly wasn't a good term to describe what Hiruzen had done. Rocket was much better. After seeing the goddess' exposed chest, his nose shot blood like a geyser, and he rocketed straight through the roof of the Hokage tower, and continued fifty feet into the air before the geyser stopped and he fell to the ground with a crash. The people who found him saw him unconsciously giggling like a school girl with blood leaking out his nose.

Even while unconscious, Hiruzen thought "_I saw a goddess' chest! Try and beat that Jiriaya!"_

**(Somewhere in the Land of Tea)**

A white haired old pervert suddenly got a jolt through him. He said "I sense a disturbance in the perv. My title of "The Ultimate Pervert" may have just been up thrown by someone! Someone from Konoha. I must return there immediately!"

**(Back with Naruto, Hinata, and Ammy)**

"Umm…can I uncover my eyes now?" asked Naruto.

Hinata gave him a kiss and said "Sure thing Ruto-kun, Ammy is decent again. I'm impressed with your reflex and I will be sure to _reward_ you later." She said "reward" in quite the sultry tone.

Naruto uncovered his eyes and said "Well, now what do we do? We can't get any more missions today since the Hokage is out of commission."

Hinata was thoughtful for a moment, before she said "Why don't we head home and get dinner. It's around 8:00 right now, and we haven't eaten a nice home cooked meal in a while. We can decide what to do after dinner later."

"Okay, do you want to take the quick way home or just walk?" responded Naruto.

"Let's just walk. It'll be nice." Answered Hinata.

Ammy spoke up, saying "Well, I sense that Kurama-kun is about to wake up. Appearently I didn't wear him down enough. That or he has more stamina than I give him credit for. Anyways, I'll see you two later." She then vanished in a flash of light.

Naruto and Hinata looked at each other and made a mental note to not ask about Ammy and Kurama's personal life. They then left via the window and started walking back home.

* * *

Midway through the walk, something lunged out an alleyway and crashed into Hinata. She would have been knocked over but her tails braced against the ground and kept her upright. Naruto was instantly on guard, but he relaxed when he saw that what crashed into her was a distraught 10 year old girl. He figured that she was distraught based on the waterfalls coming out of her eyes **(Not the anime kind)**.

The girl spoke up, saying "Nee-chan! Why did you have to leave us? I miss you so much! Your name has become taboo to even say back in the compound! I haven't seen you since you graduated!"

Hinata hugged the girl and soothingly said "Calm down Imouto. I left because I had to if I wanted to stay with my love. But you are the heiress now and we both haven't been sealed, so I accomplished what I wanted to. I miss you too, and I think about you every day."

The girl calmed down a bit, but then Anko walked by. She noticed the situation and immediately said "Who's the blubbering brat?"

The girl did a complete emotional and physical 180 and said angrily "Who are you calling a brat?"

Hinata grabbed her shoulder and said "This is my Imouto, Hanabi. Hanabi, be nice to Anko."

Anko grinned and said "Hanabi, eh? Well I think that I will call you Crackers."

"You'll call me WHAT?" screamed the enraged girl.

Suddenly a voice called out, saying "HEY BOSS! How did your big A-ranked mission go?"

The voice revealed itself to come from Konohamaru, who was running towards Naruto with his friends, Moegi and Udon.

When they got up to him, they immediately dog piled on Naruto and began bombarding him with questions.

Konohamaru had seen Naruto as his role-model and rival ever since he proved to Konohamaru that there were no shortcuts to becoming Hokage by showing off a few of his stronger skills, skills that in Konohamaru's mind would make Naruto a jonin immeadiately. Naruto then said that he is a genin because of the fact that he won't take a shortcut, and will follow the path that everyone else had to follow. Konohamaru had of course told his best friends about this, and now they saw him as a role-model as well.

While the kids were holding down a squirming Hanyou and bombarding him with questions, Hinata noticed that her sister was missing. So she asked Anko "Did you see my Imouto leave?"

Anko gave a devilish grin and said "Crackers disappeared as soon as the brat who called out to Naruto came along. Look over by the alley over behind us, but do it discreetly."

Hinata activated her improved Byakugan, and saw Hanabi poking her head around the corner of the alley, looking straight at Konohamaru, while doing an amazing impression of a tomato. Hinata giggled and said via her mind link to Naruto "_I think that my mask rubbed off on my sister a bit too much. She's acting like what I did with you when I was under my mask with Konohamaru. We should play matchmaker with them!"_

Naruto responded via mindlink "_We can do that after I get these kids off me! Do you mind helping?"_

"_What, can the man who stood up to Han of the steam armor not hold back a few little kids?"_

"_Ummm…maybe?"_

Hinata sighed, but then giggled, and said "If you kids get off my Ruto-kun right now, I promise that he'll teach you all a powerful jutsu when he next has a chance."

They response was instantaneous. Instantly the kids were off of Naruto and standing in front of Hinata with rapt attention.

Naruto groaned and got up, before shooting Hinata a look that said "Did you have to use _that_ excuse?"

Konohamaru said "So what kind of jutsu will you teach us? How about that one that makes that swirly ball in your hand that you showed us before?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and said "I don't think that I should be teaching academy kids the rasengan. It's a bit too advanced for you guys, even though you three are the strongest in your grade right now because of me."

Upon hearing this, Hanabi shot out of her hiding spot and said to Naruto while avoiding Konohamaru's eyes "What do you mean that they are the strongest in our class? I'm at the top of the class and Konohamaru-kun's the dead last!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow and said "I guess you guys took what I said about deception seriously, especially you, Konohamaru. You're the Hyuuga heiress now because of Hina-chan, so I assume that you've been given all of the attention you could ever want in your Jyuken style. Figure's that you would be at the top of the class, as your bastard of a father would accept nothing less. However, all three of these kids would destroy you in a one on one if they tried. Jyuken won't cut it if that's all you rely on. I have taught these three to be extremely creative, and I have told them to come up with counters to every person in their class. Konohamaru targeted you first when he started coming up with counters, and he's had it down for a while. He proved it when I had him spar against your sister. He got destroyed when she switched from Jyuken to Juho though. Hell, I can't even fully counter her Juho."

"What do you mean that they came up with counters? Jyuken is perfect! And what's this Juho you're talking about?" responded Hanabi.

Hinata spoke up and said "Imouto, if you're going to be strong, you have to get out of your head that Jyuken is perfect. Same with the Byakugan. All three of these kids know of the Byakugan's blind spot, and would effectively use that to their advantage. You need to break away from the stagnant teachings of the Hyuuga. While they are good up to a point, they don't allow any further improvement after a certain point. Juho is my own personal style that I came up with, and it is much stronger than Jyuken. Have you been taught the full Hakke Rokujyuyon Shou yet?" Hanabi nodded and she continued "I want you to try to hit me with it right now. I'll prove that my Juho is better than Jyuken, just from one of its elements."

Hanabi went into the stance, before lunging at Hinata. Hinata had dropped into her Juho stance, and as the strikes came, she danced around them. All sixty-four strikes were avoided by Hinata bending her body subtlety while moving back. When she dodged the last strike, Hinata had positioned herself with her palm on top of Hanabi's head.

Hanabi was dumbstruck, and just asked "How?"

Hinata giggled and said "The key element to my Juho is my natural flexibility. By bending my body slightly, I can dodge with minimal effort and put myself into a position to counter attack, as I did with your last strike. Jyuken has always been a very ridged style, and that is the key reason why it doesn't suit me. It allows no flexibility to be incorporated into it, so I modified it to my own tastes, creating Juho. I could teach you the basics of Juho, but first you would have to work on your flexibility." Hinata dropped into the splits, and continued "Can you do this?"

Hanabi just shook her head no, and Hinata stood up. Hinata then said "Whenever you are training alone, I want you to practice your flexibility for 15 minutes at a time. When we meet again, I'll test you on your flexibility. When I deem it good enough, I'll start training you in Juho. But you have to keep it a secret from the other Hyuugas."

Hanabi nodded, and Hinata said "Good. Now you should probably run along and head home. Hiashi never liked it when I was out late, and I assume it's the same with you." Hinata then leaned in close to Hanabi and whispered "_And when we meet again, we can have a little girl talk about the boys we like."_

Hanabi turned into a tomato again before shooting off to the Hyuuga compound like a firecracker. Hinata turned towards everyone else and saw Konohamaru watching Hanabi run off with an expression that said "What's up with her?"

Konohamaru broke off watching Hanabi, and said to Naruto "So boss, back to the matter at hand. What are you going to teach us?"

Naruto inwardly groaned and thought "_I was hoping that they forgot about that. I'll get Hinata back for this." _Before saying "Well I still think that the rasengan is too strong for you kids, so-"

He was cut off by Hinata saying with an evil grin "But Ruto-kun, we both mastered it when we were six."

Instantly the kids (and surprisingly Anko) started chanting "RASENGAN! RASENGAN! RASENGAN...!"

Naruto inwardly groaned again while thinking "_Hinata, you deserve what I'm going to do to you. I know just the thing, hehehe…" _Before finally saying "Alright, alright, I'll teach you all the rasengan. Now please stop chanting. I'll meet you guys two days from now at training ground 15. But be prepared, it's an A rank jutsu that's very hard to master. Now scram, Hina-chan and I still have to eat dinner, and it's getting really late."

The kids ran off, leaving Naruto and Hinata alone, except for the snake mistress who was grinning at them. Naruto gulped before Anko said "Well _Sensei_, it seems that you have a new pupil. I want in. If you don't, I'll tell the old man that you're teaching academy students the rasengan. Also, I want to help Crackers get whipped into shape, so I want Hinata's permission to train her in your guys' stead. I've been getting bored recently, and helping Crackers break away from the stuck up Hyuuganess is the perfect thing to ease my boredom. I'll even help with her flexibility so that you can teach her that Juho style quicker. What do you say?"

Hinata giggled and said "I think that you'll be perfect for my Imouto, so you have my permission. Just don't injure her too badly, and try to avoid the Hyuugas. I'm sure that my Ruto-kun will teach you the rasengan as well, _right Ruto-kun?"_

Naruto gulped again and stuttered out "S-s-sure t-thing…"

Anko's grin deepened and she thought "_Hinata has my little brother completely wrapped around her finger, both by love and fear. She is my type of person!" _She then said out loud "Great, I'll see you in two days!" With that she shunshined away.

Finally alone, Naruto and Hinata continued walking back to their home. They reached it without interuptions, and immeadiately made dinner. Both of them were extremely hungry by that point, so they both ate a lot. After doing the dishes together, they headed straight to bed, not knowing that tomorrow would be a major turning point in their relationship.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. I introduced Hanabi and the Konohamaru squad, as well as bringing back Anko. She calls Hanabi "Crackers" because Hanabi means "Firecracker". I also explained what Naruto and Hinata gained by having Ammy with them. They will be giving a few of those new senses a good test run next chapter, hehehehe…**

**Anyways, on with the omake!**

**()()()()()()()()**

The Wheel of Torture chapter 14

The root members today were feeling a similar fear as to what they felt when they saw the wheel say "Amaterasu".

This time the wheel said "Susano".

The root members had all been told stories of the Mangekyo Sharingan's ultimate technique, and it was one of the few things other than birds that they had a distinct fear for.

So they were quite surprised when a middle aged man who was bald except for the sides of his head, which had black hair that stuck up from his head. He had one of the most magnificent fluffy beards that one would ever see. He wore a purple shirt and purple pants with black shoes and a red belt around his waist. He carried a large what appeared to be wooden sword on his back that had two handles, and it appeared to have a leaf sprouting on it.

He surveyed the root squad before him before saying "You dare challenge the mighty Susano? You shall feel the wrath of my blade Tohenboku!"

He got into a ready stance before shouting "Take this!"

"SU-!"

"-SA-!"

"-NO!"

With each syllable of his name, he made a horizontal cut across a root member, until now only one remained, the captain.

"Now for the finisher! SUSANO STYLE: EXPLODING IMPLOSION!" yelled the man.

He dealt a mighty vertical slash to the captain, carving him in half. His body dropped to the ground.

Susano stood there with his arms folded and said "Now you see what happens when you challenge the mighty Susano! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-"

His mighty victory laugh was cut off by him being transported back to Nippon.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's the omake! Susano is from Okami, which is still an amazing game. I mean come on, the name of his attack is awesome. "Susano Style: Exploding Implosion" is such a cool name.**

**Anyways,**

**Until next time,**

**Slice N Dicer**


	26. Chapter 25: Hinata's Problem

**(A/N) And we are back. It is finally the time. The time for a lemon. This will be my first lemon, so I hope it proves adequate.**

**I also changed Hinata's Sorishirome technique so that it's called Sorime. The "shiro" meaning white, part of it referred to the Byakugan. However, it's not a Byakugan only technique, as Hinata will teach it to Naruto.**

**Not much else to say, other than thank you for the continued reviews.**

**So on with the story!**

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Chapter 25: Hinata's Problem

Hinata had a problem. She had just woken up from a very _graphic_ dream at probably the worst part. In other words, she woke up right before she was about to get an orgasm.

So now she was very wet and very horny.

She looked over to the peacefully sleeping Naruto and decided against ravaging him right now. However, she still needed a release, so she got up and started walking to the shower. As she walked, the sides of her vagina rubbed together quite pleasurably. She turned on the shower and let it warm up, before stripping and going in the shower, where she set to work.

Hinata grabbed her left breast with her right arm and started kneading it softly, letting out a moan of pleasure. She then started twirling her nipple with her fingertips, resulting in another moan. She snaked her left arm down to her pussy and started slowly pushing a finger in and out. Moaning as she did so, she added another finger to her pussy, and started pushing in and out faster. Her breathing was becoming rapid and irregular, and she could feel the pressure starting to build in between her hips, so she knew that she was close. Just as she felt like she would explode, she tweaked her clit with her thumb, exploding into a large orgasm, her juices flowing down her legs and getting washed away by the water of the shower.

Sighing happily as she basked in her afterglow, she turned off the water and toweled herself off. She realized that she had forgotten to gather clothes before she showered, so she left the bathroom naked.

The moment she saw Naruto sleeping and inhaled his scent, her previous problem came back full force. Liquid started dripping down in between her legs, and she was rapidly becoming very horny again.

Something in her mind snapped. So she jumped him.

Naruto was rudely awakened by a lavender haired body landing on top of him and kissing him all over. He was able to see just enough that he realized that she was completely naked. He then inhaled through his nose and smelled her arousal. He had thought the smell was strong yesterday, but today's smell completely blew yesterday's out of the park.

Naruto pushed Hinata away from him and yelled "What are you doing?"

It was at that point that he saw her eyes. She had a very feral look in them, nothing like what they normally looked like.

Hinata growled out in a very sexy and feral voice "I'm taking you, whether you like it or not."

Just before she jumped him again, Naruto managed to get out "What if Yugito hears?"

Hinata let out a feral growl in frustration, but the part of her mind that wasn't focused on fucking Naruto thought up a plan. Hinata walked over to her dresser, and picked up a prepared scroll off of it. She then walked back to Naruto, grabbed his hand, and warped them to their haven with Sorime.

* * *

When they appeared inside the cavern in a flash of lavender, Hinata unrolled the scroll and injected her chakra into it before tossing it on the ground. When it landed, there was a puff of smoke which cleared to reveal a king sized bed.

Hinata took Naruto's hand and led him to the bed, before she jumped on it and spread her legs. Snaking a tail around Naruto's head, she shoved it into her glistening pussy and commanded "Lick."

"But-"

"LICK!"

Seeing no other option than to obey her, Naruto took an experimental lap at the juices that were covering the insides of Hinata's legs. He found the taste to be sweet and very pleasant. He also found that when he licked her, she shivered in pleasure and whimpered slightly. So he started lapping up all of the juices that were covering her legs. When he finished, he took another experimental lap at where the juices were coming from. This got Hinata to let out a loud moan. Liking the noise that his mate made, Naruto began to thrust his tongue in and out of Hinata's pussy, resulting in more loud moans.

Naruto gradually built up speed, until he heard Hinata say in between moans "Naruto-kun…lick…my...clit!" Naruto looked up at Hinata, and he saw that her eyes, while they were still feral looking, they appeared to be less so. He figured that pleasuring her would be the only way to get her back to normal. So he removed his tongue from her pussy, and made a long, slow, lap starting from the bottom of her pussy and ending with her clit.

The moment his tongue touched her clit, Hinata was sent into a large orgasm, as all of Naruto's previous efforts came together into one mighty finish. Hinata sighed with pleasure as the orgasm spread though her entire body while Naruto happily lapped up the juices that came out.

Hinata's orgasm cleared her head enough of feral thoughts that she could actually use her frontal brain to think fully. She said to Naruto "Ruto-kun, you're going to have to take off your boxers so that I can give you pleasure in the same way that you did to me."

Naruto was still focused on getting all of Hinata's juice, so all he said was "Wha-?"

Hinata giggled and stood up, saying "Since you weren't paying attention, we'll have to do this the hard way." She then snaked two tails to either side of his boxers, before ripping them in half.

Naruto stood up and said "Hey! I liked-" before his mind processed the feeling of what Hinata was doing.

Hinata had her mouth around his dick, and was sucking it like a lollipop. She ran her tongue over its head as she bobbed up and down on his dick. However, she couldn't manage to get his full dick in her mouth. It was too big, around ten inches in total. So she compromised by running her small hand up and down the base of his dick while she sucked on the top.

Naruto was lost in a wasteland of pleasure as his lover engulfed his dick. It didn't take long before he started to feel the pressure in his dick beginning to rise. He managed to get out a "Hina-chan, I'm about to cum-" before he exploded inside Hinata's mouth.

Hinata managed to swallow most of his considerable load, but some managed to leak out of her mouth and dribble down her chin. She released his dick from her mouth, and with a smirk said "I think I have a new favorite desert! Now let's do this the right way."

Naruto was already hard again. He didn't know if it came from being a Hanyou, a demigod, or an Uzumaki, or even a combination of the three, but he certainly didn't care. Hinata had laid down on the bed, and was waiting, so he crawled on top of her and positioned himself next to her gushing hole. He started to enter slowly, but Hinata was impatient, and she thrust her hips upwards, fully impaling herself on his dick, breaking her hymen at the same time. It hurt a lot, but Hinata was nothing if not tough.

However, Naruto saw the pain flash across her face for an instant, and asked "Are you okay, Hina-chan?"

Hinata looked at Naruto with feral eyes, and said "Of course I'm okay! I'm much better than okay, now that your dick is finally inside of me. Now thrust!"

Naruto began thrusting in and out of Hinata slowly, causing her to moan in appreciation. It felt so good! There was no way to properly describe how Hinata felt at that moment, as she had released all restraints on her sense of touch.

However, she wanted more, so she said in between moans "Ruto-kun…be…a...good…ohhh…boy…and…ohh…go…faster!" 

Not one to say no, Naruto gladly obliged and picked up the pace. Two of his tails snaked up and started caressing Hinata's breasts, causing the girl to scream in pleasure.

Between her breasts being caressed and the steady pounding at her core, Hinata could feel the largest orgasm of her life coming. It didn't take much longer until she screamed out "RUTO-KUN, I'M GOING TO CUM!" right before her orgasm hit her. It sent shockwaves of pleasure soaring through her body, and clenched her inner walls tightly around Naruto's dick.

Feeling Hinata's pussy clench around him, Naruto lost it. He shot his seed deep inside of her womb, mixing their fluids together. The both felt a feeling of oneness with each other that they had never felt before.

They also felt a feeling that neither of them felt since before becoming Hanyou. They were exhausted from all of the physical exertion. So the both plopped down next to each other on the bed, and stared into each other's eyes. Hinata's beautiful lavender pools no longer looked feral, and Naruto spoke up, saying "I haven't felt like this tired since I was four! How is that possible?"

Hinata gave a sexy grin, and said "Well Naru-kun, that means that we will just have to train up our stamina so that we won't feel tired anymore."

Knowing what sort of training that she was referring to, Naruto gave her a quick peck on the lips and said "I hope you know how sexy you are, and I think I will take you up on that training offer. Also, I'm glad to see that you are back to your normal self."

Hinata gave a giggle and said "I guess the countermeasures to my heat finally stopped working. It was certainly an interesting feeling being in heat. It's like I could control my body, but my thoughts were solely focused on sex with you, and I was forced to act on them. But I'm back to my normal self now. Now do you think you could carry me into a hot spring? I'm starting to feel a little sore."

Naruto scooped Hinata up bridal style, and said "Of course Hime, but I'm going in with you!"

Naruto carried Hinata over to the spring, and unceremoniously tossed her in, before jumping after her. As they both surfaced, Hinata splashed Naruto in the face with water and asked "What was that for?"

Naruto splashed her back and said "Consider it part of the payback I have in store for you for forcing me to teach Konohamaru and his friends the rasengan."

They got into an all-out splash war because of this, resulting in a giggling Hinata utilizing a few water jutsu to win **(a horde of miniature water dragons is nothing to laugh at)**. After her victory, Hinata offered a temporary truce so that they could actually relax in the spring, which Naruto wisely took. They ended up sitting next to each other with Hinata resting her head in the crook of Naruto's neck, while talking about small things.

Eventually, Naruto decided that they should get out so that they wouldn't turn into prunes, so they got out and dried off. They decided that they would just leave the bed there, so they would have a comfortable place to have sex without ever having to worry about interruptions.

* * *

Hinata warped them back to their bedroom with Sorime so that they wouldn't have to deal with the chance of Yugito seeing them both naked, as Hinata never had any clothes, and she had ripped Naruto's boxers in half. They took a quick shower together, and got dressed.

They headed to the kitchen and found Yugito finishing herself lunch. Hinata began fixing something for herself and Naruto, when Yugito abruptly asked "So, how was it?"

Hinata nearly dropped the ingredients she was holding, but caught herself, and said while trying to hold down a blush "How was what, Nee-chan?"

Yugito rolled her different colored eyes, and said "How was having sex. Don't even try to deny it. I ran into Nii-san's tenants, all four of them, at breakfast this morning. The goddess, Ammy, said that you had gone into heat, and that the sexual tension between you two had been rising between you two in the last few days. Therefore, there is no way that you two didn't do it."

Instead of trying to deny it, Hinata went with the opposite. She said "It felt so amazingly good, Nee-chan! You really need to find yourself a mate so that you can try!"

Now it was Yugito's turn to nearly drop the bowl that she was holding. She had expected Hinata to admit it, but she didn't expect her to be so _blunt_ about it. She stammered out "Uh…well that's good I guess…"

Hinata winked at her and said "I'm serious about finding a mate, Nee-chan. You really don't know what you're missing out on. The feeling of Naru-kun's dick inside of me is something that I will now always crave."

Yugito finished putting away her dishes and said "Well, I'll see you guys around" before she hurried out of the kitchen. The conversation that they were having was fast becoming awkward on her end with the way Hinata was taking it, and she was glad that she was able to escape from it.

Meanwhile, Naruto was bright red after hearing Hinata's last statement. He asked her "Did you really have to say that?"

Hinata giggled as she set out his lunch in front of him and said "Think of it this way. Now Yugito Nee-chan won't be asking about our sex lives anymore. Also I meant what I said. I do crave that feeling of you having your big dick inside of my wet pussy. Would you like to go another round after lunch? We don't have anything else on the agenda for today, and team 7 won't be back until at least tomorrow."

Naruto grinned and said "I guess you're right. I guess we could go another round after lunch. After all, we need to train up our stamina!"

Hinata rewarded him with a kiss that quickly turned passionate, until Hinata pushed him away, saying "Ah ah ah, Naru-kun. You said AFTER lunch, not during it."

Naruto pouted, but decided that they would get to it the faster they ate, so he wolfed down his meal. However, Hinata decided to torture Naruto by eating very slowly, and by looking as sexy as she possibly could while doing so.

It took all of Naruto's willpower to not pounce on Hinata and start stripping her of her clothing, but he was able to endure until the very last bite. Hinata got up to start washing her dishes, when Naruto grabbed her hand and said "Sex first, dishes later" before he Hiraishined them both back into their haven.

**(Five long and moaning filled hours later)**

Naruto and Hinata were both currently back inside the hot spring that they designated as their "Sex recuperation spring" and were relaxing away their weariness. They both had quickly gained a fair amount of sexual stamina from their "training", but now that stamina was spent. So they were relaxing in the spring, letting the heat work wonders on their tired bodies. They were chatting about random things again, when Naruto said "I think we should let Haku-chan stay as a guest in our home."

Hinata looked at Naruto and asked "Why?"

"Well, I think that Yugito deserves a roommate mostly, and Haku would fit the bill quite nicely. While I'm sure that she could live with Zabuza in an apartment that the old man would give them, I also think that Haku-chan could use some more friends, and Yugito would be perfect. By living together, Yugito could teach her about how things work in Konoha, while being a good friend that she could be with. While we are letting Yugito stay with us, we don't really see her too much, and I feel like she might feel a little lonely because she is by herself."

Hinata nodded and said "Those are good reasons, but wouldn't Zabuza-san want to live with Haku-chan?"

"Probably, but the old man will probably put him on some sort of probation, since he is a missing nin. However, Haku has no ties to any village, so she will either become a genin or chunin right off the bat. She would have a lot more freedom than him, and living with him might tie her down a little. However, the decision is up to Haku-chan, and if she wants to stay with Zabuza-san, than she can if she wants."

"Okay then Ruto-kun, we will ask her when she gets here. Now I'm feeling better, so want to do some more training?"

Naruto gave Hinata a foxy grin and said "I will never say no to our _special _training!"

They spent the rest of the day having sex, until they realized how late it actually got. They got dressed and warped back to the kitchen, fixed themselves a quick meal, ate, and headed off to bed.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. I hope the lemon was good enough. This chapter was a bit of a filler, and was also a little shorter, but I needed to spend a chapter to get them through having sex for the first time, as it is a turning point in their relationship.**

**Anyways, I'm not going to do an omake again today. I'm sort of running out of motivation for doing this particular omake. Don't get me wrong, I have more than enough ideas for what I could use for it, I just don't have as much fun writing it as I used to. Torturing the root members is getting rather stale, so I need to think up a new style of omake to write. By all means, there shouldn't be any root members left, given how many of them I've killed.**

**So until next time,**

**Slice N Dicer**


	27. Chapter 26: Before the Exams

**(A/N) And we are back. Most of you seemed to think that my first lemon was adequate, although a little short. I'm quite happy with that.**

**I would really like to thank soulfistx for being one of the best users of constructive criticism ever. He really helps me a lot, and is like an after posting beta reader. He also just started a new story, which I should really call a novel based on its intended length, called "Naruto: A Tale of Those who Endure". I would suggest checking it out. He's a damn good writer even though this is his first story.**

**I've also been in contact with Crenshinibon74, who is a new writer of fanfics like me, and I have been helping him out with his new story. It is quite the interesting story so far, and I would recommend checking it out, and leaving a review if you like it. His story is called "Naruto Namikaze, the Kitsune Hokage".**

**Both of these new fanfics can be found under my favorites list, and both authors would seriously appreciate if you left them some reviews. They are both Naruhina stories and Crenshinibon's is a Hanyou story.**

**Anyways, on with MY story!**

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Chapter 26: Before the Exams

Naruto was awakened the next morning by Hinata lovingly kissing his lips, and they got out of bed together. Instead of showering separately like they had been doing for the entire time that they had lived in their home, they took a shower together. Both were rather sore from the previous day's activities, so nothing came from it, other than two squeaky clean bodies. As the two were getting dressed, there was a bright flash of light which died to reveal Ammy, who had a grin on her face.

Naruto and Hinata ignored her as they finished putting on their clothes, until she said "So what are you going to name the kids?"

"What kids?" replied Naruto.

Ammy's grin widened and she said "Oh, you know, YOUR kids."

Naruto finally put two and two together and realized what she meant. He sputtered out "B-b-b-but H-h-h-hina-chan's not p-p-pregnant! S-she used a p-protection jutsu, r-right Hina-chan?"

Hinata's face was a brilliant shade of red at this point, and she said "Ano…I was in heat. Protection was the last thing in my mind at that point."

Naruto was starting to panic a little. While he really wanted to raise a family with Hinata, he didn't want to just yet. Taking a deep breath, he said "Wait, there is no way that we can know if Hina-chan is pregnant yet. There is a chance that she didn't get pregnant. Unless you know something that we don't, Ammy."

Ammy giggled and said "You're right. I do know TWO things that you don't know. The first is that when a Hanyou goes into heat, she becomes infinitely more fertile, and pregnancy is pretty much guaranteed." Naruto's face paled upon hearing this. "The second thing that I know is that I was joking with you two. I know for a fact that Hinata is not pregnant."

Upon hearing this, Naruto was extremely relieved, until the logical portion of his brain picked out something that didn't make much sense. He asked Ammy "How could you possibly know that? I never heard or saw from any of my tenants yesterday."

Ammy just giggled again and said "I just kept my promise to Hinata to stay away from you two while you had your fun. I just happened to leave her with a, whatdoyouguyscallit, a jutsu that made it impossible for her to get pregnant, since I knew that she was in heat, and I figured that you two wanted to wait a while before she had your kids."

Hinata finally interjected, saying "But you never left Ruto-kun's body yesterday, if I remember correctly. And how did you perform a jutsu? You don't have chakra."

"You do remember correctly. I left with the others as soon as I felt you go into heat. That was around two in the morning, while you two were fast asleep. And I can perform jutsu by substituting celestial energy for the chakra that you use." Answered Ammy.

Hinata muttered to herself while blushing bright red "So that's what gave me that dream…" before she said out loud "I appreciate what you did, Ammy-chan. Naru-kun and I want to have a family, but we are not ready for it just yet. There are still too many things to be done before we can settle down. However, we will get you back for messing with our heads. So keep your eyes open."

Ammy giggled and said "I would like to see you two try!" before vanishing in a flash of light.

Hinata walked up to Naruto and gave him a big kiss, before saying "I wouldn't have minded too much if we started our family earlier, but there are still so many things we have to do, and our kids would be easy targets for our enemies."

Naruto wrapped Hinata into a hug and said "I wouldn't have either. Starting a family with you is one of my biggest dreams, but it's dangerous for us to now. It's better if we wait. Anyways, let's head down and get breakfast."

The couple went down to the kitchen, and while Hinata was making breakfast for them, she asked "So what do you want to do today, Ruto-kun?"

"We should probably train a little with Ammy. I'm curious about this "celestial brush" that she mentioned and what it can do. Also, I expect that Kakashi-san will be returning around noon, so we should meet up with Haku-chan and ask if she wants to stay with us. We should also find Anko nee-chan and ask about the chunin exams. They are in a week, and she is the one who has to enter us." Answered Naruto.

Hinata laid Naruto's breakfast in front of him and said "Well its 11:00 right now, so we can eat breakfast and take a nice walk before we meet up with Haku-chan. It would probably be best to be there when they report to the Hokage. We can find Anko sometime in the afternoon along with train with Ammy."

"A walk would be nice. We'll go with what you said." Responded Naruto.

They finished breakfast and washed their dishes, before leaving the compound and heading towards nowhere in particular as they walked at a leisurely pace with their hands and tails intertwined.

Midway through there walk, they heard a familiar voice from around a corner scream "LET ME GO YOU BIG BULLY!"

Naruto and Hinata quickly hurried around the corner where they saw Konohamaru being held in the air by his scarf by a 14 year old boy who wore a black bodysuit and what looked like makeup on his face. Udon and Moegi were standing on guard a little ways from the boy, and they looked like they were formulating a strategy to get their leader back. Behind the boy was a girl who had four blonde pigtails and a huge fan strapped to her back.

The girl spoke up and said "Kankuro, let the brat go. If you hurt him, you'll make our village look bad."

The newly named Kankuro scoffed and said "So what? He ran in to me! I hate little brats like this. I say we teach him a lesson in pain."

It was at this point that Naruto and Hinata got there, and Naruto said "I wouldn't do that if I were you. This "brat" as you call him is the Hokage's grandson. He is also my student, and I don't take kindly to people hurting those close to me."

Kankuro looked at Naruto and said "What's with those tails? Are you two some kind of freaks? You two don't seem that strong to me!"

Naruto was about to answer when a dry and bored sounding voice came out of the tree that was next to them, saying "Kankuro, stop before I kill you. You're an embarrassment to our village."

Kankuro nervously dropped Konohamaru and said "H-hey G-gaara! I d-didn't s-see you t-there."

A swirl of sand came from the tree, and settled down in front of Naruto and Hinata, and reformed into Gaara.

Naruto grinned and said "I was wondering how long you were going to stay in that tree. Anyways, let's have a little chat!"

Before anyone realized what was going on, Naruto clapped and they all drifted into unconsciousness.

**(Shared Mindscape)**

Kankuro and the girl opened their eyes to find themselves inside a blank expanse of space. They looked around and were immediately terrified. They saw the two people who were just outside standing away from them, and behind them was a giant nine-tailed fox, who looked at their expressions with amusement in its eyes. They also saw the three kids, each of them looking at the fox with wonder in their eyes. There was the sudden noise of metal being hit behind them, so they whirled around to see Gaara who was staring at what appeared to be a giant cage. Inside the cage was a giant tanuki that appeared to be made of hardened sand that was trying to break the cage.

Gaara turned back to Naruto and Hinata and asked "What's going on?"

Naruto grinned and said "You have been subconsciously controlled by your bijuu to act insane. However, since we are in a mindscape, your actual consciousness can't be controlled by said bijuu, especially since I locked him up as a precaution. So we can speak freely here without your thoughts being muddled."

The fox then spoke up, saying **"Although Shukaku really shouldn't be acting like this. While he was never the brightest bulb, he was never downright insane. There is something effecting his mind, just like he was effecting yours, making both of you insane."**

Gaara was still in shock, as his brain was trying to catch up with how he had been acting in the real world. It took him a moment to think through what had happened in his life, but after he fully remembered everything, he immeadiately turned to Kankuro and the girl and said "Kankuro, Temari, I'm sorry with how I've acted. I haven't been myself." Kankuro and Temari just stood there with their jaws wide open, and Gaara turned back to Naruto and said "My name is Sabaku no Gaara. These are my siblings, Kankuro and Temari. I'm sorry for how they acted. May I ask who you two are?"

Naruto grinned and said "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and this lovely lady is my wife and mate, Hinata Uzumaki. I am the former jailer of the fuzzball behind me."

Kurama growled at the fuzzball comment, but he let it slide. Gaara on the other hand was in shock once again at this information. He said "Former jailer? What do you mean?"

Hinata giggled and said "My Naru-kun merged with Kurama-sensei, becoming a Hanyou. He then made me his mate, transforming me."

Naruto then picked up after Hinata and continued "And you're the host of the Ichibi, Shukaku. Hina-chan and I have been trying to convince as many jinchuriki as we can to merge with their bijuu, so you're next on that list. However, we have to do something about the fact that Shukaku is madder than that Sheogorath guy."

Suddenly, there was a blinding purple flash, and a voice echoed out "Madder than me? Blasphemy! There is no one madder than the madgod himself!"

The flash died down to reveal Sheogorath in all of his mad glory. He looked over to Naruto and Hinata and said "I'm delighted to see that you two are doing well. So well in fact that you managed to convince a goddess to stay with you! Although, I'm slightly ashamed to say that it was my fault that said goddess no longer attends our trans-dimensional god parties. Malacath really was not good at that party, and I was the one who told him to come. But I do have to say that she gave him the beating that he deserved, so all's well that ends well!"

Hinata piped up and said "Excuse me, Sheogorath-sama, but what are you doing here?"

Sheogorath gave Hinata a grin and said "I am here because someone inferred that something was madder than me. Therefore, to defend my title of "The Ultimate Insane Being", I will make my competition the opposite!"

Sheogorath snapped his fingers, and the cage around Shukaku vanished. Shukaku looked around for a moment before saying **"What the hell is going on? The last thing I remember was drinking the juice of that cactus fruit, and now I'm here!"**

Sheogorath let out a loud laugh before saying "Oh, isn't that ironic! I just cured something of an affliction that I indirectly caused! He drank the juice of the madtus cactus that I created, causing him to go insane! Anyways, my title has been defended, so I've got to run. There are people to drop from 1000 feet in the air!"

With that, Sheogorath vanished in a flash of purple light. Kurama then walked to a separate portion of the mindscape with Shukaku and began filling him in on the events that he missed.

Naruto turned to Gaara and said "I take it that you guys are here for the chunin exams, right?" At the sand siblings nod he continued "Then I'm going to ask you-"

Gaara interrupted Naruto by saying "Wait a moment. There is something that I feel that you should know about the exams. My village has signed a pact with the new village of Otogakure, and were planning on attacking during the exam finals. I'm no longer insane because of you, and I feel like this should help repay my dept."

Naruto was thoughtful for a moment, before he said "Thank you very much for that information. You have just saved a lot of lives by telling me that. However that changes my plans a bit, so I'm now going to ask you to wait till the end of the attack before becoming a Hanyou, and I would also like you to still act insane, so that your village doesn't suspect anything."

Gaara let out a small smile (shocking Kankuro and Temari once more) before saying "Very well. I for one do not agree with this attack. My father, the kazekage, has been acting strange ever since he first met Otogakure's leader. I do not think that he is in his right mind."

At this, Kurama and Shukaku came back, and Naruto said "Well that's that then. We'll see you guys around." He then clapped his hands again and the mindscape dissolved.

**(Real World)**

Everybody blinked as they came back to their senses, and Gaara turned away from everyone else and said "Kankuro, Temari, come. We shouldn't bother these people anymore."

Kankuro and Temari then turned and left with Gaara, still in a little shock after what happened.

Konohamaru and his friends were bouncing up and down around Naruto and Hinata, and were pegging them both with questions. However, Naruto wasn't in the mood for this, so he said "Enough. I'll answer your questions tomorrow when I teach you guys the rasengan. Hina-chan and I will be late for something if we stay here any longer, so run along."

Konohamaru looked a little downtrodden, but he perked up and said "Fine boss! I'll see you tomorrow!" Before running off with his friends.

Naruto looked at the watch he had started to wear, and saw that it was 12:05. So he said to Hinata "We should just head straight to the Hokage's tower. Kakashi should be there by now, so hopefully we can catch them in their meeting. Actually, why don't you check the Hokage tower with your Byakugan, and if they are there, take us there with Sorime."

Hinata nodded her head and activated her Byakugan. She looked towards the Hokage tower and saw everyone in the Hokage's room, so she grabbed Naruto's hand and warped.

**(Hokage Tower)**

Hiruzen had just finished the mission debriefing with Kakashi, and he had a slight headache. He now had to decide where Haku could stay. Zabuza was no problem, as there was a vacant room in ANBU headquarters, and since he was on probation, the ANBU could keep an eye on him. However, the room was a single person bedroom, so Haku couldn't stay there. Hiruzen sighed as it seemed like he would have to go through the council to get Haku a home, as it was unlikely that anyone would let her stay at their home.

As he thought these things, there was a sudden flash of lavender, and Naruto and Hinata appeared in the middle of the room. He was startled, but hid it very well. He calmly asked "What are you two doing here? We are finishing a mission debriefing, and I have to find a house for Haku to stay at while I try to get a permanent place for her to stay. Finally, how the hell did you just appear out of thin air?"

Naruto grinned and said "Well, you're in luck! Haku-chan can stay in our estate for as long as she wants. We are here to tell you that. And Hinata warped us here using a jutsu she made."

Hiruzen sighed. Of course Naruto would do something like this. So he said "Very well, if Haku wishes, she may stay at your estate. Is that what you desire, Haku?"

Haku looked extremely happy at the fresh turn of events, and said "That would be quite acceptable."

Hiruzen was also happy with the turn of events, as they meant less paperwork for him, and said "Very well then, you are all dismissed except for Kakashi. I would like to have a word with him. We will decide Haku's ranking in the ninja ranks later."

Teams 7 and 15, along with Zabuza and Haku walked out the door, leaving Kakashi behind. When the door shut, Hiruzen said to Kakashi "I would like to have a word with you about your team. From the mission report, it can be inferred that Kiba was the only one to follow orders. That leads me to one of two things. One is that you are not leading your team correctly. And two is that both Sasuke and Sakura are ignoring your position as team leader. Which one is it?"

Kakashi sighed and said "Unfortunately it is the latter. Kiba is a good kid with a lot of potential, but Sasuke has serious mental problems, and Sakura has an extreme case of fangirlism. Although there is actually hope for her if we could find a way to break her out of it. Sasuke on the other hand is beyond hope in my opinion. I am going to let my team take the chunin exams. I do not expect any to pass though, and this will hopefully help open their eyes a little to the real world."

Hiruzen sighed and said "I was worried that that might be your answer. I will allow your team to take the exams, but I want you to keep an eye on Sasuke. If he is as unstable as I think he is, he could become a danger to his team and all of Konoha. You are dismissed. I get the feeling that the chunin exams this time around will be unlike any we have seen before."

Kakashi vanished in a swirl of leaves, leaving the Hokage to think about the upcoming exams.

**(With Naruto, Hinata, and Haku)**

The trio had just arrived in front of the Namikaze compound. Naruto marked Haku's chakra, and they stepped inside. Naruto and Hinata lead Haku to Yugito's room while explaining the ground rules to her, as well as the fact that she would be staying in the same room as another friend of thiers, and when they arrived at the room, they knocked on the door.

A moment later, Yugito popped her head out and asked "What?"

Naruto grinned and said "Say hello to your new roommate, Haku."

Yugito squealed in delight, and brushed past Naruto and Hinata and grabbed Haku's arm, before dragging her into their room, leaving a stunned Naruto and Hinata standing there. Realizing her manners, Yugito went back to Naruto and Hinata and said "Thank you very much for giving me a roommate. No offense to you guys, but it can get a little lonely in here, as you two are always together. Now if you don't mind, I would like to get to know my roommate better" before shutting the door in Naruto and Hinata's faces.

Hinata giggled and turned towards Naruto, saying "Well I think Yugito likes having a roommate. She can show Haku-chan around the house when she finishes interrogating her. We still have to find Anko-sensei so that she can sign us up for the exams, so let's go do that. Although I have no clue where she would be."

Naruto grinned and said "Just check every dango shop in Konoha with your Byakugan until you find her, it's really that simple. Its 1:30 right now, so she should be out getting her early afternoon dango snack."

Hinata complied and started checking the dango stores. She quickly found Anko sitting on a bench near one, munching away on a stick of dango. Hinata grabbed Naruto's hand and warped with Sorime.

* * *

Anko was happily eating her dango when there was a flash of lavender in front of her, which died to reveal Naruto and Hinata.

Anko was either completely unfazed by their flashy entrance, or she was completely lost in her own dango world. Most likely the latter, as she didn't even acknowledge that they were there until Naruto reached towards the plate that she kept her extra dango on. As soon as he was about to grab a stick of dango, Anko snapped into action and appeared behind Naruto with a kunai at his neck.

She then realized who it was that she was about to decapitate, and said "I thought I've told you enough times that if you touch my dango, you will get hurt, even if your my unofficial little bro."

The Naruto she was threatening then vanished in a puff of smoke, and the real Naruto walked up behind her, saying "I learned my lesson to not touch your dango last time, sis. However, you seemed to be a little lost, as you didn't even react when Hina-chan and I materialized in front of your face."

Anko just grinned and said "I was lost in the wonders of dango. Now what do you two want?"

"We want to be signed up for the chunin exams." Replied Naruto.

Anko picked up another stick of dango and said while eating it "You two already are. I signed you guys up as soon as you had the correct amount of missions completed. I've been keeping an eye on the missions you guys have done, and I have to say that your record is damn impressive. You make me proud as your fake sensei! Now scram you two! I have dango to eat."

Naruto and Hinata looked at each other and shrugged, before Hinata took Naruto's hand and warped them to an empty training ground.

Immediately upon arriving, Ammy appeared in a flash of light. She then said "It's time to teach you two about the celestial brush. Once you have mastered it, it will become one of your most powerful weapons, and one of your most useful tools. However, that is a looooooooooong way away from now. So let's get to work! The first thing that you two need to do is learn how to draw upon your celestial energy at will…"

**(Timeskip no Jutsu)**

The week past extremely quickly for Naruto and Hinata. They didn't take any missions, and focused mostly on training with Ammy. For a goddess, she was quite the slave driver. It turns out that the easiest way to start drawing on celestial energy was to be put in a life or death situation, something which Ammy was quite happy to put them in. Naruto and Hinata, while being quite strong, were nowhere near the level of a goddess, and she soundly beat them down, repeatedly, until they finally were able to draw upon their celestial energy. She then started teaching them the brush techniques by having them draw the markings for the technique on paper, and then channeling celestial energy through the marking. This was the starting step for learning how to use the celestial brush. The next step was to do the same thing, but without the paper. Ammy explained that the true power of the celestial brush lied in the fact that the world was your canvas. This step was also the most difficult step of learning the celestial brush. By the end of the week, Naruto and Hinata had barely mastered it. Now it came down to them to practice as often as possible.

Other than Ammy's training, the only thing that made the week different was something that Naruto and Hinata called the Hakito incident.

**(Flashback no Jutsu)**

Naruto and Hinata had just come back from surviving against Ammy's onslaught, and were going to ask Yugito if she had any spare bandages, as the number that Naruto and Hinata had was rapidly diminishing. They knocked on her door and heard "Come in, it's unlocked." So they entered, and were quite shocked at what they saw.

They saw Haku and Yugito cuddling together on their bed, but Haku was now 18 and had a yellow and a green eye, as well as two flaming tails and a pair of flaming ears. What shocked them even more was the fact that after seeing them enter, Yugito gave Haku a passionate kiss.

Naruto stuttered out "A-are you t-two lesbians?"

The pair in question giggled, and they both said "We are bisexual!"

Naruto and Hinata then left the pair alone, having completely forgotten why they had gone there in the first place.

**(Flashback no Jutsu KAI!)**

During the week, Haku decided that she wanted to be a genin, and petitioned to be placed on team 8. While the Hokage initially went against it, after Haku revealed that she was Yugito's mate, he decided that she could join team 8, as having a team of four would balance out team 15's two members.

Naruto also revealed to the Hokage what Gaara had told him. Hiruzen immediately declared the information an S ranked secret, and said that they shouldn't tell anybody about it other than the other Hanyou. Hiruzen also said that he would work and bolster Konoha's defenses.

**(Timeskip no Jutsu KAI!)**

It was finally the morning of the chunin exams, and Naruto and Hinata had gotten up early so that they could get there on time. They had been told that they were to report to the academy in room 301, at 9:00, and no later. They had henged themselves back into their 13 year old selves, so that they wouldn't arouse suspicion with their appearance.

So when Naruto and Hinata got to the academy, they headed up the stairs to find a large crowd of genin standing in front of a room. They were being blocked by two kids who looked suspiciously like Izumo and Kotetsu, the two eternal chunin who were always seen guarding the main gate.

Naruto said to Hinata over their mind link "_This must be some sort of test to weed out the weakest of the weak. We are on the second floor, and the test is on the third floor. There is a weak genjutsu over the room number, making it say 301 instead of 201. Let's just bypass this mess and go straight to the third floor."_

They squeezed through the crowd and climbed the staircase to the third floor. They found room 301 and entered it. The room was a large classroom with a series of tables that sat three people a piece. There were also a few teams of genin lounging around, one of which was team 8. They had the sense to henge themselves as well, so all of the Hanyou looked like regular thirteen year olds. They also saw Gaara's team as well.

Naruto and Hinata walked up to the team and Naruto said "It looks like we are early. I'm glad to see you guys here."

Shino said "Likewise" and Yugito said in a low whisper "It looks like you two had the sense to hide your appearances. Also, that Suna nin over there seems to be one of us."

Naruto whispered back "I've already met him, and his name is Gaara. He's on our side. He isn't a Hanyou yet, but he will merge after the exams. He's the one who told me about the invasion."

Yugito nodded and they started waiting in silence. Gradually, the room filled up with genin, and at one point, both teams 10 and 7 entered together. Naruto and Hinata were both glad to see that Sasuke looked a little worse for wear, for whatever reason.

The rookies seemed to naturally clump together and Shikamaru said "It looks like the rookies are back together again. This is so troublesome."

Ino hit him atop the head and said "Of course you think that this is troublesome. You think EVERYTHING is troublesome."

Choji, who had been munching on some chips, said "Well he could be right, I mean look at all of the opposition. It looks pretty tough."

It was at this point that a genin in glasses walked over and said "Hey, you guys should keep it down. Everyone else is starting to look at you like you are prime targets."

Kiba piped up and said "And who are you?"

The bespectacled genin responded "The name's Kabuto. This is my seventh time taking the exam. I'm pretty experienced, so I'll give you rookies some information on whoever you want to know."

He held out a deck of cards and continued "These are my ninja info cards. I've been collecting data on everyone ever since I started taking the exams, so I have a pretty good amount of info stored in them."

Sasuke arrogantly strode forwards and said loudly "Tell me about Rock Lee and Naruto and Hinata Namikaze."

At this, several Iwa nin turned towards the rookies, and were suddenly quite intrigued with the rookie's conversation.

Naruto meanwhile was thinking "_That idiot said our names out loud! I was hoping we could get through without them finding out, but thanks to emo boy over here, that's a no go."_

Kabuto meanwhile said "Aww…you already know their names. That's no fun. Anyways, here we go." He took a card out and channeled some chakra into it, before saying "Rock Lee. He graduated a year before you guys, as the dead last. He has no talent whatsoever for ninjutsu or genjutsu, and relies solely on taijutsu. However, his taijutsu level is far higher than the average genin due to focused training. He is on team 9 with his teammates Tenten and Neji Hyuuga."

Kabuto put away Lee's card before saying "I'll do the next two together, as they have the same last name." He pulled out two cards and channeled chakra into them. He took a breath and blinked, but when he opened his eyes, the cards were gone.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't reveal any information about my wife and I, Kabuto-san, so we will be confiscating your cards for the time being." Said Naruto, bringing everyone's attention to him. He gave the card with Hinata's information to Hinata herself, and continued "Most information regarding my wife and I is classified anyways, so you wouldn't learn much."

Sasuke was furious that Naruto had shown him up again, but kept to himself, while all of the other rookies were thinking one thing "_When did he move?"_

Suddenly, there was a wave of killer intent that fell upon the rookies, and a figure dashed towards Kabuto and made a swipe at him. Kabuto barely dodged in time, when suddenly his glasses cracked and he started coughing up blood.

Two other people joined the attacker, and the one who had attacked said "You can put this on your silly little cards. The sound village genin are the ones who will be made chunin after the exams."

There was suddenly an explosion of smoke in the back of the room, which died down to reveal several chunin in gray outfits, headed by Ibiki Morino. Ibiki shouted "That's enough, you three, unless you want to be disqualified before the exams even begin!"

The sound genin's leader said dryly "I'm sorry procter-san, but it's our first time here. We apologize for getting a little roudy."

Ibiki just grunted and said "All right you maggots! Posted on the right wall is your seating arrangement. Find your seats within five minutes or have your entire team immeadiately disqualified!"

There was a sudden scramble of movement to get to the proper seat. Hinata simply activated her Byakugan and found where both she and Naruto sat. Surprisingly, luck would have them sitting together. She led Naruto to the spot and sat down next to him.

Only a few teams didn't make the time limit, and once everyone was settled down, Ibiki shouted "All right. The chunin exams have now officially begun!"

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. This chapter went for longer than I had intended it to, but now we are finally at the chunin exams! I can't wait to get to the prelims and the finals. Those are going to be fun fights to write. Next chapter I will get the first exam done, and we'll see if we get any into the forest of death. I decided to pair Haku with Yugito in the end, as I think that Hyoton combined with cat flames is a very cool concept.**

**Anyways, until next time,**

**Slice N Dicer**


	28. Chapter 27: The First Exam

**(A/N) And we are back. I liked the newest manga chapter, even though it had a disappointing lack of Hinata time in it. There is no way that the ten tails is down for good though. That would have been too easy if it was, even if that combo jutsu was badass. I'm curious to see Orochimaru's intentions with Tsunade, so I will anxiously wait for the next chapter.**

**Not much else to say, so on with the story!**

**()()()()()()()()'**

Chapter 27: The First Exam

"Alright, now that everyone is seated, I will explain the rules of the first exam. Listen closely, as I will not repeat myself or answer any questions." Said Ibiki. Several of the chunin then began handing out papers to everybody, and Ibiki continued "This exam is a written exam. There are ten questions on this exam. The first rule of this exam is that you will all start with ten points, and be deducted a point for every question you get wrong or leave blank."

"The second rule is that you will pass or fail on a team total basis. If your team does not get a total of 70% correct, then your team fails."

Several genin started muttering uneasily at that, but Ibiki shouted "QUIET! The third rule is that if any of the examiners catch you cheating, then you will be automatically deducted two points. If any examiner deducts from you three times, you and your team fail!"

"And the final rule. If any of you do so badly as to end with zero points, then your entire team fails! The entire exam will take place within one hour. On your papers are nine of the ten questions. We will give the tenth question when there are fifteen minutes left in the exam. That is all. BEGIN!"

Ibiki watched with a smirk as everybody scrambled to flip over their tests and start.

Meanwhile, Naruto was having a mental conversation with Hinata. He had just read the first question, so he said to her "_These questions are too difficult for a normal genin to answer. Granted, we are not normal genin, but there is clearly a different reason for this test than straight book smarts. If I know Ibiki, which I do, than I would say that he is trying to a) Get in our heads so that we think too much, and b) Test us on our espionage skills."_

"_I agree with you, Naru-kun." _Replied Hinata "_Let's chat with our siblings and see if they have come to the same conclusion."_

"_Okay, do you want to do a shared mindscape or an extended mental link?"_

"_Let's go with the shared mindscape. That gives us time to chat while not using any time in the real world."_

Ibiki had been watching the genin closely to see if they got the real reason of the test. He noticed that some of them got it pretty fast, as he saw a few of them subtly cheating. However, it was not his place to deduct points, as that was the job of the chunin. This was observation training for them. He narrowed his eyes when his sight fell upon Naruto. Ibiki knew that he would try something to get on his nerves, and it was only a matter of when. They had been going after each other ever since he broke someone that Ibiki himself couldn't crack. Ibiki watched as Naruto subtly clapped his hands together. He noticed that the eyes of Naruto, his wife, the transfer students from Taki and Kumo, the ice girl, and the creepy red haired Suna nin glazed over for the briefest of moments, before they all blinked. He swore the Aburame kid's muscles twitched in the same way as the others, but with his clothes and glasses, it was hard to tell. Ibiki wondered what that meant. He had expected to see something happen between the brat and his wife, but the others were a mystery to him.

Meanwhile, Naruto had an unsettling grin on his face. The talk with the others went better than expected.

**(Shared Mindscape)**

Everyone who Naruto had brought down to the mindscape blinked their eyes as they adjusted to their new surroundings. They stood in a circle with Kurama behind Naruto and Hinata, Chomei behind Fu and Shino, Matatabi behind Yugito and Haku, and Shukaku behind Gaara. Yugito spoke first and said "Why did you bring us here Naruto?"

Naruto grinned and said "Just thought I would check on my siblings to see if they got the real reason for the test. Also I would like to introduce everyone to Gaara, the container of Shukaku."

Gaara stepped forwards and said "It is a pleasure to meet with all of you. I guess I should consider you my brothers and sisters."

Naruto continued "Gaara has agreed to merge after the exams, after we defend Konoha from Oto and Suna. Anyways, have you all figured out what the point of this exam is?"

Shino stepped forwards and said "It is logical to assume that they are trying to get us to cheat. The questions are far harder than what a normal genin would be able to comprehend, so they are obviously trying to test our espionage skills. My Kikai have located two chunin in disguise. They are who we are supposed to get the correct answers from."

Hinata stepped forward and said "You are correct, Shino. That is precisely what they are trying to get us to do. However, these first nine questions are just a setup to weed out more of the weak. Naru-kun has told me a lot about his rivalry with Ibiki-san, and from what he has told me I can only assume that he will try to throw us a curve ball with the last question. Ibiki-san is the head of T & I, so the last question will probably be some sort of mind game. Be on guard for it."

Everybody nodded at Hinata's warning, and Naruto continued "Hina-chan will share the test answers with you guys by extending our mind link to you. As Hina-chan told you, I have a little rivalry with Ibiki, so I'm going to do something to mess with him a little."

Gaara stepped forwards and said "Would you mind if I helped brother? I have never gotten to really have any fun before in my life."

Naruto grinned and said "The more the merrier! Here's what we will do…"

**(Real World)**

Naruto stared straight at Ibiki while he grinned. The plan was perfect thanks to Gaara's abilities. He signaled to Gaara by flaring his Yokai the tiniest of amounts, a level where only Jinchuriki and Hanyou would be able to detect it.

Gaara felt the Yokai and made his move. Crumbling off a little of his sand armor, he sent his sand along the floor towards Ibiki. He spread it out in a very thin layer so that no one would notice. He started gathering the sand together under Ibiki's pant leg, until he had enough so that he could make a sharp needle of sand. He then jabbed the needle into Ibiki's leg, causing him to close his eyes in pain for a moment and grab his leg.

That brief moment was all that Naruto needed. He almost instantaneously made the hand sign for a Kage Bunshin, but he controlled the jutsu so that the clone appeared without smoke and under a kitsune illusion. The invisible clone snuck behind Ibiki carefully, and tapped him on the shoulder. Ibiki instinctively whirled around to see who tapped him, but saw no one there. He turned around and narrowed his eyes on Naruto, who was filling in the last question of the test. Ibiki muttered to himself "I'm onto you, brat. There may be no proof, but I know that was you."

Naruto's shadow clone waited a while before going into action again, this time ripping off Ibiki's bandana and tossing it to the ground. There was a collective horrified gasp from the genin as they saw the scars that adorned Ibiki's head.

Ibiki bent down and picked up his bandana before retying it back onto his head, and decided to turn the prank back onto the genin. He said to the genin "What you just saw was a prime example of the real ninja world. Those of you who think that they wouldn't be able to withstand the pain that gave me those scars should just quit now. You are not fit to be a real ninja if you can't take a little pain!"

To Ibiki's satisfaction, a few ninja got up and said that they were quitting. Ibiki was quite satisfied that he had turned tables, but he knew that he had to stay on guard. It was nearing the time for the tenth question, and he knew that Naruto would pull his biggest stunt yet.

So Naruto pulled his stunt. His shadow clone stealthily snuck behind Ibiki, and pulled his pants down, revealing his boxers. Unfortunately for Ibiki, today was the day that he had decided to wear his lucky panda boxers.

The entire room burst into laughter at the sight. Ibiki quickly pulled his pants back up before shouting "QUIET! ANYONE WHO LETS OUT SO MUCH AS ONE GIGGLE WILL IMMEDIATELY FAIL THEIR WHOLE TEAM!"

This effectively shut almost everyone up. There were a few who couldn't contain their laughter, and they were forcibly ejected **(picked up by the neck and thrown)** from the room by Ibiki himself.

Ibiki looked at the time and saw that there were fifteen minutes remaining, so he said "Alright you maggots! It's time for the tenth question. There are a few special rules for this question. The first is that you have a choice whether or not to take the question."

An Ame nin shouted "Why the hell wouldn't we take the question?"

"I was getting to that you maggot!" yelled Ibiki. "If you choose not to take the question, then you automatically fail. The second rule is that if you choose to take the question, and get it wrong, then you and your teammates lose the right to ever take the chunin exams again!"

There was a huge uproar again, and Kiba's voice was heard yelling "WHAT THE HELL! THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO HAVE TAKEN THE EXAM LOADS OF TIMES BEFORE!"

Ibiki just smirked evilly and said "Well I wasn't the procter of those exams, was I? My exam, my rules. So those of you who are confident enough in themselves to take the final question, stay here. The rest of you maggots get out of my sight."

Gradually, a few genin started to leave, followed by their teammates. Ibiki watched as a few genin slowly tricked out, before the trickle slowed down.

Ibiki counted the number of genin remaining. There were 78 genin left. That meant 26 teams. Either this group was really good or really lucky.

Ibiki cleared his throat and said "Anybody else? No? Very well then. In that case, all of you…"

He let the tension build for a moment before…

"YOU ALL PASS!"

Ibiki smirked as the genin's minds started to process what he just said.

Cue outrage in:

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

"WHAAAAAAAAT?!" screamed a large majority of the genin.

"WHAT ABOUT THE LAST QUESTION?" cried a random nin.

Ibiki grinned and said "There never was a tenth question."

"THAN WHAT THE HELL WAS THE POINT OF THE OTHER NINE?" asked another.

"They were there to test you information gathering abilities, as well as to root out the weakest of the maggots." Answered Ibiki. "The test was set up with questions that normal genin wouldn't have been able to answer, so we planted two chunin to act as genin. They knew the correct answers, and you were supposed to use your skills to gather the information off of them. If you used your skills poorly, then you and your team failed. If you were actually spying, you would be dead, if you're lucky." Ibiki unwrapped his bandana again and continued "If you are unlucky, then the horrors that await you as the enemy tries to extract information from you will make you wish that you are dead."

Hinata then piped up and said "And the tenth question was meant to act as a leap of faith, a make it or break it. Only the strongest of heart would make it, and the weak would have to try again the next time."

Ibiki grinned again and said "The little ex-Hyuuga is right. If you don't have the heart to take the chance, then you will never make it as a ninja. Those of you who are still here, I offer my congratulations for passing the first part of the chunin exams!"

Suddenly, there was a loud crash as a kunai shot through the window and went right past Ibiki's head, sticking into the far wall. The kunai had a rope attached to it, and a large banner slid down the rope, reading "Anko Mitarashi is the second exam procter!"

There was an explosion of smoke in front of the banner, and it died to reveal Anko, who said "All right you brats! It's time for the second exam!

"…"

"…"

"…"

Anko sweat dropped and said "What, have none of you ever made a flashy entrance before?"

That caused everyone else to sweat drop.

Ibiki than came from around the corner of the banner, and said "Anko, your early."

Anko grinned and said "I know, I just wanted to mess with the atmosphere that you created." She then counted up the genin, and said "There are 26 teams left?! You've gone soft Ibiki."

"Maybe they're just better this time around, you never know." Responded the scarred man.

Anko gave a devilish grin and said "Whatever, by time I'm done with them, there will be less than half remaining."

Most of the genin audibly gulped upon hearing this.

"Alright you brats, listen up! You are all to report to training grounds 44 for the next portion of the exams. Be there within ten minutes or be immediately disqualified with your team!" announced Anko, before she disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

There was a rush of motion as the genin scrambled to get to the training grounds. It wasn't long before there were only two genin left in the room.

Ibiki looked at Naruto and Hinata and asked "What do you two want?"

Naruto and Hinata handed Ibiki the ninja info cards that they had gotten from Kabuto, and Naruto said "Keep a close eye on Kabuto. There is information on these cards that isn't public knowledge. I would like to know how he got it. Also, I had a fun time playing your mind game, Ibiki. Try to do better next time though."

With that, Hinata grabbed Naruto's hand and they vanished in a flash of lavender. Ibiki then read the cards he had gotten, and muttered "There is information on those two on these that even I wasn't aware of. I need to put a watch on Kabuto."

**(Training grounds 44 a.k.a The Forest of Death)**

Naruto and Hinata appeared in front of the forest in a flash of lavender, and moments later, Anko appeared in a swirl of leaves. She looked at the two and said "Dammit you two! I was supposed to get here first."

Hinata rolled her eyes and said "What does it matter? Besides, we have the advantage since I can warp."

Anko sighed and said "I know, but if anyone asks, I got here first. I have a reputation to uphold."

Hinata sighed, and they continued waiting in silence. Gradually, all of the genin arrived, although team 10 got there at the last possible second **(something about stopping for snacks and it being too troublesome to run)**.

Anko cleared her throat to get everybody's attention, and then said "Alright brats! Welcome to training grounds 44, which is lovingly known by leaf nin as "The Forest of Death". This place is filled with dangerous animals, poisonous plants, and untriggered traps, and for the next five days, it's the place you brats get to call home!" Anko smiled evilly at the look of horror that was gradually filling the genin's faces, before she said cheerily "But first you have to sign a release form!" as she pulled a stack of papers out of seemingly nowhere.

The majority of the genin face faulted at her sudden change up.

Anko then began explaining the rules of the exam as she passed out the forms **(Standard FoD exam rules apply) **and was interrupted midway by Choji suddenly yelling to the heavens "WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO FOR FOOD?"

Anko smirked and said "There are plenty of animals in the forest that are edible. You just have to be sure that they don't eat you first!"

Anko then finished explaining the rules, and directed the genin teams to take their forms to some chunin in exchange for a scroll and a gate number. After everybody got their scroll, they headed to the gate that matched the number that they had been given. Naruto and Hinata were assigned to gate 7, and they noticed that to their left there were three Kumo teams, and to their right there were three Iwa teams.

Naruto said to Hinata over their mindlink "_That's really suspicious. Both Kumo and Iwa entered three teams, and all of them just happen to be in the gates next to us. Coincidence? I think not."_

"_I agree Ruto-kun. If I had to guess, I would say that they have teamed up on us, and they somehow rigged the gates in their favor so that they could be close to us." _Answered Hinata.

"_So what should we do, Hime?"_

"_I say that we go a ways into the woods and set up camp. We then wait until they ambush us. We then show our true selves and beat them down. If none of them have the heaven scroll that we need, I would be seriously surprised. After we beat them, we should tie them up and put chakra seals on them. Depending on if they declare their intentions after a little bit of persuasion, we should take them with us using that special storage seal that you made. We can then either warp to the tower using Sorime, and finish in record time or take the long way."_

"_That's a good plan, Hime. We'll follow it and decide whether to warp or not after we beat down the teams."_

There was suddenly the sound of a large air horn, and the gate in front of them flew open. Naruto and Hinata immediately dashed inside.

The second exam had officially begun!

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. This chapter is a little short, but I didn't want to combine the first and second exams. I'm not sure how I'm going to do the FoD after the part with Kumo and Iwa. But I am sure that I will not be having Naruto and Hinata interfere with Orochimaru's appearance to team 7. I really just want to get to the prelims and the finals, as those are where most of the action will occur. I already have a general idea for who is going to fight who, and I can't wait to type those fights.**

**Until next time,**

**Slice N Dicer**


	29. Chapter 28: The Forest of Death

**(A/N) And we are back. Sorry about not updating yesterday, but I wasn't in the mood to write. Also, tomorrow is my birthday, as well as this story's one month anniversary. I don't think that I will be able to get a chapter out tomorrow, as I'm pretty busy.**

**I have one question on my mind right now: What the hell is Madara's gunbai freaking made of? It reflected a mini tailed beast ball and didn't get hurt. WTF?**

**I've also gone back and edited Waka's prophecy just a little bit, so that it fits more with something. He now says that the snake is named after a demon.**

**Anyways, on with the chapter!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 28: The Forest of Death

As Naruto and Hinata tree hopped deeper into the forest, Hinata kept watch on the Kumo and Iwa teams with her Byakugan. After a little bit, she relayed her findings to Naruto, saying "All six teams are steadily moving diagonally towards us. They all must have sensors on the teams. However at the angle they each are moving, they will meet with each other before us. I think we can safely assume that they are teaming up on us."

"Well then, let's continue on until we can find a nice clearing for a good fight, and then pretend to set up camp. We will let them make the first move." Replied Naruto.

The couple continued a little until they found a clearing. In the middle of the clearing, they sat down and started talking. To any observers, they would have thought that the pair were completely defenseless. However, both had their god-enhanced senses on high alert, and Hinata was discreetly watching the six teams get closer and closer to each other with her Byakugan.

When the teams met, Hinata said "Ruto-kun, they have come together and the Kumo and Iwa groups appear to be arguing. We can use that to our advantage if we have to. Now they are all splitting apart again, and it looks like they are going to surround us."

Naruto and Hinata waited for five minutes in silence. Hinata then informed Naruto that they were now completely surrounded.

However, instead of using their numbers to ambush the pair, one of the Kumo teams entered the clearing stupidly, and the leader said "Hand over the girl if you don't want to get hurt!"

Naruto and Hinata were both shocked by the stupidity of the Kumo nin, and Naruto made that known by saying "Are you freaking idiots? There are a total of eighteen of you and you walk in with only three and demand that I hand my wife over. You would have stood a much better chance if you actually tried to ambush us."

The Kumo leader just gave a cocky grin and said "Why would I need to use those other weaklings to just take a weak girl from her demon protector? I'll let you know that my team are all jonin! Sneaking into this exam was pathetically easy! Besides, my father is on Kumo's council, and he will reward me greatly once he hears that I was the one to bring in the Hyuuga that they have wanted for so long! The Raikage was a soft fool for not approving this. Kidnapping other bloodlines is so much easier than finding people who are willing. The council sees that."

It was at this point that the rest of the nin who were surrounding Naruto and Hinata jumped into the clearing. One of the Iwa nin yelled at the Kumo nin who had spoken, saying "What the hell do you think you are doing? The plan was to ambush them! You gave away our element of surprise!"

The Kumo nin just said "Why would we need to ambush them? According to our informant, the Hyuuga bitch is weak and the boy has no control over his demon. He is no threat."

The Iwa nin responded by saying "He's a Namikaze! His father murdered our entire army in the blink of an eye! Do you really think that he would be no threat?"

The Kumo nin arrogantly responded "Your nation is just weak if a single leaf ninja killed your entire army."

Naruto then interjected, saying "I hate to break up the cat fight, but if you are not going to attack my wife and I, then we will be on our way. If you do attack, it's your funeral."

The Kumo nin snapped back to Naruto and said "You little punk! I'll kill you and take the girl myself!" He then began to cackle evilly before saying "Maybe I'll have a little fun with her later. It's not like you can do anyth-"

He was interrupted by a rather oversized rasengan being slammed into his gut. The rasengan ground straight through his flesh, and Naruto pushed it through the man's body, leaving a gaping hole where his stomach used to be.

Naruto removed his arm from the hole as the nin's body fell to the ground, and said "The bastard said too much…"

Instantly Hinata was by his side and was pulling on Naruto's ear, resulting in an "owowowowowowowow" from the boy. She said "Naru-kun, Yugito-chan said not to kill any of them!"

All of the other nin were instantly on guard. None of them had seen either of the two move.

One of the Kumo nin said warily "Who is this Yugito you speak of?"

Hinata released her hold on Naruto ear and turned to the nin, and said cheerily "Oh, she is only the person who has been giving you false information to you on me ever since she became a genin. By the way, she says that she quits being a Kumo nin, and that she is officially joining the leaf after the exams."

Another Kumo nin said "So the demon turned traitor. We will deal with her later. Her giving us false information won't stop us from taking you!" He lunged at Hinata, who gently sidestepped, and tapped him so rapidly that no one besides Naruto could see her move. The nin crumpled to the floor, completely conscious, but unable to move any of his limbs.

Naruto grinned at the downed man and said "Actually it will, since she lied about two main things. First, that Hina-chan is weak. And second, that I have no control over my demon's power."

Naruto nodded to Hinata and they both said "Kai". All of the other nin were forced to take a step backwards as Naruto and Hinata were encompassed inside a whirlwind of orange and lavender flames respectively. When the flames died down, Naruto and Hinata stood in all of their full Hanyou glory.

All of the opposing nin leapt into action. However, the fight was very one-sided and did not last long. All of the Kumo nin targeted Hinata, and the six who were not of the dead man's team actually worked together to pull of some decent combos, but they were completely useless before Hinata's grace and flexibility, as she used her Juho to dodge and counter. Each of the seven Kumo nin were soon in the same position as the nin who had called Yugito a traitor.

The Iwa nin all targeted Naruto, and all nine of them coordinated their attacks perfectly. However, as Naruto dodged them all, he took a total of eighteen slips of paper out of his tool pouch, before he exploded into orange flames and vanished. Within two seconds all nine of the Iwa were lying on the ground motionless with two papers stuck to each of them. When Naruto finally slowed down, the Iwa nin were treated to the sight of what he called "Orange Flash Mode". His body and tails were glowing in an orange chakra shroud that flickered with orange fire **(A/N: Essentially, he looks exactly like canon's nine tailed chakra mode, without the black markings)**. Naruto even had enough time to enjoy watching Hinata make fools out of the Kumo nin.

When all of the attackers were finally incapacitated, Naruto stepped up to Hinata and gave her a kiss, before crouching down to one of the Kumo nins and saying "Would you care to tell us why you disobeyed your village leader and tried to kidnap my wife?"

The Kumo nin just spat "Why would I ever tell you anything?"

Naruto grinned evilly and said "If you don't, I might tell my wife to persuade you to speak. She's quite good at making people talk, you know. Especially people who know about why she was almost kidnapped when she was three."

"Do your worst!" was all the Kumo nin responded.

Naruto frowned and said "I tried to warn you." He then nodded to Hinata, who walked over to the downed nin and crouched beside him.

"Now, if you don't answer my Ruto-kun's question, I'll be forced to hurt you. This is your last free chance, so speak up." Said Hinata to the nin in a scarily sweet tone.

The nin grinned and said "You couldn't even make me flinch, you bitch!"

Hinata then gave an evil smirk and said "I hoped you would say something like that." She then activated a single Kitsuneken, and tapped one of his arm's tenketsu. He howled in pain as the tenketsu suddenly ceased to exist.

Hinata then sweetly asked again "Care to rephrase your answer?"

Her response was a pained "Not on your life, bitch!"

"You're only doubling your pain by doing so." Responded Hinata, before she tapped another two tenketsu, obliterating them.

The nin screamed as the pain coursed through his body, but he still said "I will never tell you anything!"

This caused Hinata to smile again as she tapped another four tenketsu. She also said over his screams "If I keep this up, the chakra flow in your arm will cease to exist. Without it, your arm will become dead weight and will have to be amputated. I'm quite happy to do the job myself, but it won't be a pleasant experience as I won't dull any of the pain."

The nin had tears in his eyes, but he still resisted, until Hinata tapped his other arm eight times, shattering eight tenketsu. When the scorching pain died down enough so that he would be able to speak, Hinata said "This is your last chance. If I have to kill off sixteen more tenketsu, then your chakra network will go out of control, literally melting your insides. I've heard that that process is one of the most painful ways that you can die."

Finally the Kumo nin said "All right, I'll talk! Just please don't do that anymore!"

Hinata looked a little disappointed, but said "Fine, why did you disobey a direct order from your Raikage?"

"We did it because the civilian council offered us a high position in the village for after they overthrow the Raikage! They said that we would never have to worry about money ever again if we succeeded. It seemed like such an easy mission too, especially since we already had Yugito as an informant."

Hinata then said "So the civilian council is throwing a coup? Did they ever mention when? And how would they overthrow someone as powerful as the Raikage?"

"I overheard them mention that they would do it in around a month, but I don't know they planned on doing it, I swear!" said the nin.

Hinata sighed and turned to Naruto before saying "Well it looks like a meddling civilian council is a common theme in hidden villages. I've learned enough personally, so if you could seal them away, Ruto-kun."

Naruto nodded and took out a special scroll. He then placed the scroll on the nin that was tortured, and ran his chakra through it. There was a small poof of smoke, and the nin disappeared. Naruto then repeated this process for each of the Kumo nin, after he took each of their exam scrolls off of them. He got two earth and one heaven scrolls.

He then went to one of the Iwa nin, and took a brush and ink out of his pouch. Naruto then dipped the brush into the ink and painted a little extra onto one of the paper seals that was on the nin.

When he finished, the nin said "What have you done to us? Wait, I can speak now!"

Naruto chuckled and said "I modified your paralysis seal a little so that you can speak. As for what I did, I simply placed both a paralysis and a chakra sealing seal onto each of you. Now it's my turn to ask a question. Why did you team up with those Kumo bastards? If you don't answer, then I'll have my wife do what she did to that Kumo nin to you."

The Iwa nin wisely chose to answer and said "The Kumo nins approached us after the first exam and asked for our help in capturing the Hyuuga girl. They said that we could keep your head if we helped them. Since we learned that you were a Namikaze, we figured that we could get honor in our village if we returned with your head, so we agreed. In hindsight, going after the son of the only one who ever received a flee on sight order in our village wasn't a good idea, since we are all only genin. The odds were never in our favor, even with the Kumo nin on our side."

Naruto chuckled and said "Well it's a bit too late to realize your mistake now. However, I appreciate your honesty, so I won't take you guys in for interrogation, and you actually have the right to be here as genin, unlike those Kumo bastards. They were all either chunin or jonin. However, this is still an exam, and I hate to say it, but you guys lost."

Naruto then collect two heaven and one earth scrolls from them, before he bunched them all up into a group. He then jumped high into the air and threw ten kunai into a circle around them. After landing, he and Hinata stepped out of the circle of kunai, and Naruto went through some hand signs before saying "**Fuinjutsu: Ten-point Barrier**". A large see-through purple barrier was then built up, starting from each of the kunai and ending in a dome above them.

Before leaving, Naruto said "The paralysis and chakra suppression seals on you guys will wear off in five days' time, as will the barrier. The paralysis seals also prevent you from going hungry or thirsty, so you guys won't die of that. You'll be picked up at the end of the exam. Ja Na!"

With that Naruto and Hinata jumped away. As they were tree hopping, Hinata said "It looks like that Waka fellow was right. We have had fun with stones and clouds. We've also met the large raccoon that he was talking about, but what about the snake that is named after a demon?"

"Well he could be talking about Anko, but I doubt it, as her name has nothing to do with demons. That Kabuto guy smelled like snakes, now that I think about it, but again no demon name. Who else could he be referring to though? Unless he means…"

Naruto and Hinata both stopped on the same branch and looked at each other. They then said at the same time "Orochimaru!" Hinata grabbed Naruto's hand and activated her Byakugan. Focusing on where the Hokage was in the central tower, she thought "_Sorime!" _and warped.

**(Tower, Hokage's room)**

Hiruzen was sitting in a chair, smoking his pipe. He was contemplating why he had to be here so early. It's not like any of the genin would be able to get to the tower within a few hours. And even if they did, why would they ever need to speak with him?

Of course, he was immediately proven very wrong as Naruto and Hinata appeared in a flash of lavender in front of him, and Naruto blurted out "We need to tell you something immediately old man!"

Startled, Hiruzen said "Calm down Naruto. What do you need to tell me?"

Taking a deep breath, Naruto said "Hina-chan and I have a very good reason to believe that Orochimaru is going to come to the leaf sometime during the exams!"

Hiruzen let his pipe clatter to the ground and said in a steely voice "Explain your reasoning. Now."

Naruto then shot off into his explanation of the day Ammy came, and how Waka made his initial prophecy. He then explained how they met the Shukaku, and the day's events in the forest and how they had reminded them of Waka's prophecy, and how they came to the conclusion that Orochimaru was the snake named after the demon, Orochi.

After their explanation, Hiruzen said "This is most worrisome indeed. If you two are indeed correct, then Konoha is in severe danger. I will up the ANBU patrols at once. However, I dare not cancel the exams. Thank you very much for telling me this. If you will give me the scroll with the Kumo nins, I will send them to Ibiki at once. By the way, congratulations for finishing the second exam in record time. Two hours will be tough for anybody to beat. You two are dismissed. You have free reign over the tower for five days, until the exam ends. There are plenty of beds, as well as some dojos to train in."

Naruto and Hinata bowed and exited, leaving Hiruzen to ponder the return of his old student.

**(Timeskip no Jutsu)**

The next five days past rapidly, with only one main thing happening other than the genin teams gradually entering.

Later on in the first day, Gaara's team arrived, completely unharmed.

On the second day, team 8 arrived, all of them still under their henges.

On the third day, team 9 arrived, as well as the event that proved that Naruto and Hinata's suspicions were correct.

**(Flashback no Jutsu)**

Naruto and Hinata were talking with the Hokage about when Orochimaru might show up, when all of a sudden, an out of breath Anko burst into the room.

She said "Bad news. My old sensei is back."

Hiruzen immediately said "Explain."

Anko then explained…

**(Flashback within a flashback no Jutsu)**

Anko had been happily sitting outside the FoD, eating dango and enjoying the screams of helpless genin, when she suddenly felt a slight tingling in her curse mark. She knew what that could possibly mean, so she leapt up and hopped into the forest. As she went deeper into the forest, the tingling grew steadily more intense.

Suddenly, the tingling skyrocketed, and she heard a voice behind her say "Kukukukuku, what do we have here? If it isn't my old failed experiment, Anko Mitarashi."

Anko whirled around to see a clump of mud form into Orochimaru. She immediately pulled a kunai out and said "Well if isn't my old bastard of a sensei, Orochimaru. What the hell are you doing here? Not that it matters, cause I'm gonna kill you NOW!"

Anko lunged at Orochimaru, but he just made a single hand seal and said "Activate." Immediately, Anko fell to the ground, screaming in pain and clutching her curse mark.

Orochimaru started walking towards her and said "Kukukukuku, you were always the hothead, weren't you. However, you still refused to use the power of the gift I gave you, and because of that, I abandoned you as a failure. But no matter, I've just given that same gift towards a much more promising individual. He has the most amazing eyes, capable of copying whatever they see. And soon he shall be all mine. But now you know too much, so you must DIE!"

He lunged at the screaming Anko, only for her to suddenly stop screaming and say "Just kidding" before jumping up and slashing Orochimaru across the chest with a kunai.

Orochimaru's chest was bleeding heavily, and he glared at her and said "That's impossible! I felt the seal activate!"

Anko grinned a sadistic grin at her former sensei, and said "It did activate. Only, its power didn't reach me because of a barrier seal that someone put on me. Ever since he did that, he became my little brother."

Orochimaru hissed at her and said "Not even that doofus Jiriaya could produce a barrier of that magnitude. The only one that I could possibly think of being able to make a barrier like that was Minato Namikaze, and he is long dead. Unless…"

Anko's grin widened and she said "That's right! My little brother is the fourth Hokage's legacy. But now YOU know too much, so let's end this!"

Anko lunged at the weakened Orochimaru, and dealt another slash with her kunai. To her surprise, Orochimaru melted into mud, and she heard his voice echo "This certainly is an unplanned turn of events. Mark my words, the leaf will fall, and now the Namikaze brat has a death sentence for messing with my work. I will retreat for now, but I will return!"

**(Flashback within a flashback no Jutsu KAI!)**

"And I rushed here as soon as he stopped speaking." Concluded Anko.

"This is most worrisome. It sounds like he has marked Sasuke with the cursed seal. Naruto, I need you to put the same barrier that you put on Anko onto Sasuke when he returns!" said Hiruzen.

Naruto grimly said "I probably won't be able to. That barrier will only work on someone who is willing to receive it. And I know that Sasuke won't accept anything from me. That is also the only barrier that I know that would be able to suppress that mark. It is too strong for any other barrier."

Hiruzen sighed and said "That is very unfortunate. I will have Kakashi put the Evil Sealing Method on him when he gets here, and I can only hope that Sasuke will resist the temptation of the power that the cursed seal gives."

**(Flashback no Jutsu KAI!)**

On the fourth day, team 10 and the sound genin team arrived.

On the fifth and final day, team 7 and Kabuto's team arrived.

**(Timeskip no Jutsu KAI!)**

Now it was the day after the second exam ended, and all of the surviving teams were together in a huge room that had a giant pair of hands making the tiger hand sign in it. There was also a huge television screen on one of the walls of the room. The Hokage and several jonin stood in front of them.

The Hokage cleared his throat before saying "Congratulations for passing the second exam all of you. However, far more of you passed than was expected, so we will be holding a preliminary tournament to decide who will be going to the finals. The rules are as follows: The last person standing wins. Now is the chance for anybody to drop out if they wish."

At this, Kabuto timidly raised his hand and said "You got me. I used too much chakra in the forest, and I'm not completely healed, so I will be dropping out this time."

As he was escorted from the room by some ANBU, Hiruzen said "Does anybody else wish to drop out? No? Very well, if you will all turn to the screen on the wall, we will see who is in the first matchup."

Everybody turned to the screen and watched as it flickered on, and started cycling through the names of all the genin. It finally slowed down and landed on…

Sasuke Uchiha vs. Ino Yamanaka

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. The prelims are next, and I am so excited! However, as I said before, I probably won't get a chapter out tomorrow. When I do the prelims, they will all probably be in the same chapter, so it will probably be my longest one yet. These are going to be fun fights, and I've already decided the matchups and who wins and who loses. I've also decided the finals matchups as well.**

**Today is a good day, since this chapter marks me passing 100,000 words in my story!**

**Until next time,**

**Slice N Dicer**


	30. Chapter 29: Preliminaries, part 1

**(A/N) And we are back! Thank you to all who wished me a happy birthday, I certainly had a good one. Hell any day with a bushel of crabs to eat is a good day in my book.**

**Now I have to say that quite a few of my reviewers have little faith in Ino, as you seemed to think that she would be destroyed by Sasuke in a fight. Well you'll see what happens, but I would like to remind you that she is not a fangirl anymore, and hasn't been since she graduated.**

**By the way, something that I usually remember while I'm not typing and forget when I am typing, is that Hinata has the same whisker marks that Naruto and Kurama have.**

**So without further ado, on with the story!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 29: Preliminaries, part 1

When the screen settled on Ino vs. Sasuke, a sickly looking jonin stepped forwards and said "The first match has been decided *cough*. My name is *cough* Hayate Gekko, and I will be proctoring *cough* the preliminary matches. Will everyone *cough* but Ino and Sasuke please *cough* go into the stands to observe the fights. Once everyone *cough* is there, we will *cough* begin. Also, since there are twenty-three genin, one person gets a free pass to the finals."

With that, everyone but Ino and Sasuke headed towards the stands.

**(In the stands)**

Once everyone was settled, a certain cycloptic jonin spoke up and said "I hate to say it, but Ino's going to lose. Sasuke may be an arrogant son of a bitch, but he does have skills. Ino doesn't stand a chance."

A voice then said "That's where your wrong, Kakashi." Kakashi turned towards the voice to see Asuma walking towards him.

"And why would I be wrong, Asuma?" asked Kakashi.

"Simply put, Ino's no longer a fangirl." Answered the jonin as he lit a cigarette. He took a drag from it and exhaled a puff of smoke, before continuing "Ever since Naruto and Hinata pointed out her faults, she's worked extremely hard to get rid of her previous reputation as a weak fangirl. She's actually managed to become some sort of prodigy within her clan in the short time that she's stopped being a fangirl. She's mastered quite a few of the lesser known Yamanaka clan techniques, some that even her father couldn't even master. Like the one that I'm sure she will use to end this fight. Now let's watch, it's about to begin."

**(With the combatants)**

"Round one *cough*, Ino Yamanaka vs. Sasuke *cough* Uchiha. Hajime!" called Hayate, before leaping away from the combatants.

Ino got into a ready stance, while Sasuke just stood there arrogantly. He then said to Ino "You should just give up. There is no way that you could stand against an elite Uchiha!"

Ino scowled and said "Your arrogance is so disgusting! What I ever saw in you before, I'll never know, but I'll prove to you that just being an Uchiha doesn't mean squat!"

Ino then started going through handsigns, before ending with a unique handsign that had her fingers makeing a triangle that pointed at Sasuke, and called out **"Yamanaka clan genjutsu: MIND TERROR!"**

Nothing happened for a few seconds, causing Sasuke to throw back his head and begin laughing. He then looked at Ino behind closed eyes, which he opened to reveal his Sharingan, each with a single tomoe. He then said "Is that it? What did you even do? You are pathetic! Allow me to show you the power of-AAAAARRRRRGGHHH!"

Sasuke suddenly fell to the ground screaming. He then stopped screaming, and his body started shivering uncontrollably. Ino then turned to Hayate, and said "The match is over. He won't be doing anything other than shiver for at least an hour."

Hayate nodded and said "The winner of *cough* round one is Ino Yamanaka!"

Medics appeared carrying a stretcher, and they proceeded to put Sasuke onto it, and then carried him off to the medical ward.

**(In the stands)**

Kakashi watched wide eyed as the medics carried Sasuke off, and he turned to Asuma and asked "What did she do to him?"

Asuma chuckled and said "She used a Yamanaka style genjutsu. This particular one is called Mind Terror, and it forces the recipient to relive their worst experiences. And given Sasuke's past, it was not a pleasant thing that he re-experienced. That jutsu is one of the Yamanaka clan's strongest, and most terrifying. Inoichi was never able to master it, and he is hailed as a genius. That jutsu is why Ino is probably the worst opponent for Sasuke to ever face. Although, there were several other jutsus that she could have used to achieve the same result."

"If there were other jutsus that she could have used, why did she use that one? It just seems like it's a little…"

"Sadistic?" finished Asuma for Kakashi. "That's precisely why she used it. Ino changed after her father introduced her to Ibibi and the rest of the T & I department. She is now quite sadistic to whoever pisses her off. And if I had to guess, Sasuke's arrogance pissed her off."

At that point, Ino had arrived in the stands and heard the last bit of the two jonin's conversation. She then inputted "You got that right Asuma-sensei. I gave the bastard what he deserved. Maybe he won't be as arrogant when he wakes up. Now let's see what the next match is."

* * *

The screen on the wall began cycling through names, and settled to a stop. It settled on Shikamaru Nara vs. Kin Tsuchi.

The two in question made their way down from the stands and stood apart from each other.

Hayate stepped forwards and said "Round two *cough* is Shikamaru Nara vs. Kin Tsuchi. Hajime *cough*!"

Kin immeadiately threw some senbon at Shikamaru, who dodged to the right and slipped his hand into his tool pouch. He took out what appeared to be a metal canister, and tossed it high into the air behind him. Kin's eyes followed the canister, until it exploded into a huge flash of light, blinding everyone in the room except for Shikamaru, his team, and Naruto and Hinata, who had seen the canister and known what it was, so they covered their eyes.

The light lasted for five straight seconds, but three seconds in, those who were listening closely heard Shikamaru say "CHECKMATE!"

When the light finally died down, and people blinked away the spots in their eyes, they were treated to the sight of Kin lying on the ground unconscious, while Shikamaru was yawning and starting to head back towards the stands.

As the medics rushed towards Kin, Hayate stepped forwards and said "The winner *cough* of round two is Shikamaru Nara!" He the added to himself in his thoughts "_Although I have no idea what he did…"_

**(In the stands)**

Shikamaru had just gotten back up, when Naruto said "Nice work with the flashbangs I gave you. Which jutsu did you use along with it?"

Shikamaru yawned again and said "It's troublesome, but I chose to use that Kage Osae **(Shadow Presser)** technique that I learned in one of your scrolls. I figured it was the easiest way to ensure a knockout. I have a lot more control over that jutsu than the Kage-Kubishibari **(Shadow neck bind)**, and I didn't want to accidentally kill her."

Naruto grinned and said "I knew that jutsu would come in handy for you. Glad to know that you've gotten good control over it, but wasn't that jutsu rather chakra draining?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and said "That's exactly why I said it was troublesome. Now shut up so we can see who is in the next match."

* * *

The screen began cycling again, and this time it settled on Neji Hyuuga vs. Misumi Tsurugi.

The combatants made their way down, and Hayate once again stepped forwards and said "Round three is Neji Hyuuga against Misumi Tsurugi. Hajime!"

The match was over in an instant. Neji sped towards Misumi faster than he could react, and slammed his palm into Misumi's chest, right where his heart was. Neji then turned and began walking back to the stands, and said "It was fate that chose him to be my opponent. It is also up to fate whether the medics can restart his stopped heart in time to save him from death."

As the medics once again rushed in and tried to restart the man's heart, Hayate stepped forwards and said "The winner *cough* is Neji Hyuuga."

As Neji walked back up towards the stands, Hinata watched him with a frown on her face. All she thought was "_What has my former clan done to you?" _When Neji walked by Hinata, he shot her a look of absolute loathing, which only caused Hinata's frown to deepen.

Back on the field, the medics had managed to put Misumi in a temporary stasis, so they rushed him off to the hospital, so they could work on restarting his heart. The Jyuken strike apparently made the typical ways of restarting a heart useless, so they needed to resort to using equipment that they didn't have in the medical ward in the tower.

* * *

With the personnel out of the way, the screen began cycling through names once more. This time it settled on Haku Nii vs. Sakura Haruno.

Once the contestants reached the battlefield, Hayate stepped forwards once again and said "Round four is Haku Nii vs. Sakura Haruno. Hajime!

Once Hayate had jumped away, Haku said to Sakura "You should just give up. You are and will always be worthless so long as you chase after that arrogant man. He is blinding you from what you could actually be."

Sakura charged at Haku with her fist cocked back and said "Sasuke-kun isn't arrogant! He is the strongest ninja that the leaf has!" She let her fist fly once she got close enough, and Haku effortlessly caught it in her own. She then grabbed Sakura's arm and threw her to the floor.

Sakura hit the ground so hard that she coughed up blood, and Haku continued speaking, saying "That man is far from the strongest of the leaf. He is in fact one of the weakest. If you do not get your act together, he will drag you down even further than he already has. You have potential, but you are doing nothing to let it come to light."

Sakura was nursing the arm that Haku had grabbed. It had a very minor case of frostbite on the spots where Haku's hands had touched her. Sakura shakily stood up and said "What do you even know about Sasuke-kun? He is not weak!"

Haku just said "I know enough about him to know that his mind is probably in the weakest state that I have ever seen. And he is weak. Did you not see the girl defeat him with just one genjutsu? And might I add that genjutsu shouldn't effect someone with those eyes of his. If he was strong, he would have fought against the genjutsu the moment he heard the girl say that she used it, but he did nothing, and it proceeded to consume him."

Sakura just stuttered out "But…but…he…"

Haku sighed and said "I've had enough. Maybe someday you will see that there are in fact others who hold YOU dear, and will recognize them. But in the meantime, your heart is as frozen as I will make your body. **Hyoton: Odayaka Arechi. (Gentle Wasteland)**"

The air temperature in the entire room started dropping rapidly, and, with Haku as the epicenter, ice began forming on the floor. It slowly spread outwards, and when it got to Sakura, she started shivering. The ice began creeping up her legs, slowly but surely covering her body in a thin layer.

Suddenly there was a blur of green from the stands, and Lee appeared next to Sakura and picked her shivering body up. He turned to Haku and said "That is enough. You have made your point. I am one of those who holds Sakura dear, and I swear by my youth that I will protect her. I agree with what you are trying to do, and I will help you." He then turned to Hayate and said "Procter, this match is over. Haku wins. I will take Sakura to the medical ward."

With that, he walked away, holding Sakura close to his body so that his body heat would keep her from going into shock.

The slightly shocked Hayate stepped forwards and anounced "The winner of the *cough* fourth round is Haku Nii! We will be taking a short *cough* break in between matches to *cough* defrost the field. In the meantime, talk amongst yourselves.

**(In the stands)**

"So what did you think of the first four matches?" asked Kakashi to no one in particular.

"Short and boring, except for Shikamaru's on the boring part." answered Naruto.

"What do you mean that Shikamaru's wasn't boring? We didn't even get to see what he did." Asked Kiba.

Naruto chuckled and said "Well I know what he did, as I found the jutsu he used in my clan's library and gave it to him. And I have to say of all of the shadow jutsu, Kage Osae is the least boring. If Shikamaru was a cold hearted killer, or if that Kin girl was an enemy of the leaf, he could have squashed her into a one inch sphere. He barely used any of that techniques potential, as he just put enough pressure on her body to knock her out."

Kiba was wide eyed at Naruto's explanation of what Kage Osae could have done, and he whirled around to Shikamaru and said "Could you really do that?"

Shikamaru sighed and said "Damn it Naruto! Did you have to tell them that? Whatever, it's too troublesome to argue. But yes, I could have left her as a sphere, or square, or any other shape that I wanted to. But dealing with dead people is especially troublesome, so I just applied a little pressure to some spots on her head and knocked her out, even though it uses less chakra to just completely squish someone without control."

Kiba just said "Remind me to never get on your badside, Shikamaru!"

Naruto laughed and said "Or you could just get on Shikamaru's bad side and not worry about it, since Shikamaru would find it "to troublesome" to do anything about it."

Shikamaru surprisingly chuckled at this and said "It's troublesome, but your actually right, Naruto. Anyways, I found Haku's match pretty interesting since she actually tried to knock some sense into the banshee. None of us have gotten close enough to try it, since the volume of her voice is just too troublesome to deal with."

"I guess I can agree with you on that, Shikamaru. The fact is that until recently, Hina-chan and I actually couldn't get to close to the banshee without blasting an eardrum, or else we would have staged an intervention like we did with Ino. But the match was still rather boring since Haku-chan only used the weakest version of her Arechi line of techniques. This whole room would have been an ice cube if she used the strongest, and that would certainly have been interesting." Said Naruto.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and said "Interesting for you, maybe, but not all of us have merged with a demon that has its own special version of fire. It would be rather troublesome for the rest of us if the room turned into a giant freezer. Anyways, it looks like they have finished defrosting everything, so let's see who is in the next matchup."

* * *

The screen once again began cycling through names, and this time settled on Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze vs. Sabaku no Kankuro.

Naruto was immediately overjoyed that it was finally his turn to fight, but that joy was quickly squashed when Kankuro called out "Procter, I forfeit."

Ignoring Naruto's cries of protest, Hayate said "Very well! The winner *cough* by forfeit of round five is Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze!"

Back in the stands, Kankuro said to Naruto "Sorry, but I don't feel like getting my ass handed to me today. Finishing the second exam in two hours is no easy feat, and I overheard a jonin say that you came in with six other teams' scrolls. By the way, I'm sorry for calling you weak, as you obviously aren't."

* * *

The screen began cycling once again, and the next match was decided as Sabaku no Gaara vs. Yoroi Akado.

Instantly Naruto snapped out of his funk and called out to Gaara via an extended mindlink "_I checked all of the files of everyone who got to the second exams, and long story short, this guy isn't really a leaf nin. If you want to keep up the insane charade, you can kill him if you want to."_

Gaara acknowledged Naruto with the slightest of nods, before turning into sand and flying down into the arena. When Yoroi arrived, Hayate said "Round six is *cough* Sabaku no Gaara vs. Yoroi Akado. Hajime!"

Yoroi instantly charged at Gaara with glowing hands, ready to suck out his chakra. However, the moment Yoroi reached out to grab Gaara, his hand was blocked by a wall of sand that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Yoroi tried to jump back, only to find that the wall of sand was gathering around his arm and slowly beginning to encompass his body.

As the sand was surrounding him, Gaara started speaking in an insane tone "I can hear her. She's asking for blood. Mother will get her blood. You will satiate mother's needs. MOTHER WANTS YOUR BLOOD!"

At this point, Yoroi was completely encased in sand, and Gaara was holding out his hand in a claw like fashion. He suddenly shouted "**SABAKU SOSO!**" and squeezed his hand shut. The sand imploded, crushing Yoroi to bloody paste. Yoroi's blood leaked out of the sand and onto the floor.

Gaara gave an insane grin before turning back into sand and flying back into the stands. Once there, everyone instinctively took a step away from him.

As the janitors came out and began cleaning up the blood on the ground, Hayate stepped forwards once again and said "The winner *cough* of round six is *cough* Sabaku no Gaara."

Meanwhile, Naruto was talking to Gaara via an extended mind link once again. He said "_Damn, that was creepy as hell. I know that I told you to keep up appearances, but still…"_

Gaara replied by saying "_I just acted how I did before you cured me. It wasn't that hard."_

Naruto mentally sweatdropped and replied "_I'm really glad that you're on our side now. I think I'm going to have nightmares about you and your "mother."_

Their conversation was cut short as the screen had begun cycling again. This time it stopped on Hinata Uzumaki-Namikaze vs. Zaku Abumi.

* * *

Hinata warped down with Sorime, and waited for Zaku to get down. When he did, Hayate called out "Round seven will be Hinata Uzumaki-Namikaze vs. Zaku Abumi. Hajime!"

Hinata began the fight by saying "You should probably forfeit. With your arm in a sling like that, you won't be able to do anything against me."

Zaku just laughed and said "As if. I'll show you what I can do, you freak!"

Hinata muttered "Says the one with pipes implanted in his arms…" before saying aloud "Very well. Don't blame me when you find yourself unable to move." With that, she took Shin'en off of her back.

Zaku just thrust his arm forwards and yelled "**ZANKUHA!**" As the large wave of sound and air shot forth at Hinata, she mockingly yawned and held Shin'en in front of her. The wave hit Shin'en and completely dissipated, leaving Hinata completely unharmed.

Hinata then smiled as she said "Is that all you've got? I've stopped attacks stronger than that in my sleep!"

Zaku then yelled "You little bitch! How about you take this!" He took his other arm out of its sling, and screamed "**ZANKUKYOKUHA!**" The wave of sound and air that shot out this time was at least ten times bigger than the previous, but again, all Hinata did was hold Shin'en out in front of her as the wave was turned completely harmless.

Zaku was speechless. His strongest attack had been completely nullified without any effort. However he did not think about that long, as he suddenly received a huge horizontal slash across his chest. The weird thing was that Hinata hadn't even moved. She was just standing there, smirking.

Zaku yelled out "What did you just do?" before another slash appeared, this time cutting deeply into his face. Suddenly, a tree sprouted right beneath Zaku, pushing him upwards, before it vanished. While Zaku was in the air, he began receiving multiple cuts out of nowhere. He landed painfully on the ground with a THUNK, and looked up to see what looked like a large bomb sitting in front of him, with its fuse going down.

There was a large explosion, but it wasn't the fiery kind. Instead, the bomb was apparently a large firework, as it exploded into a multitude of colors. However, it still sent Zaku flying forcefully into the side of the room, with the impact pushing the surrounding wall in. Needless to say, Zaku fell off the wall and onto the ground, unconscious.

A clearly confused Hayate stepped forwards and said "Ummm…I guess the winner of round seven is Hinata Uzumaki-Namikaze."

At this, Hinata gave a bright smile, and warped back to Naruto's side.

Once there, he gave her a huge kiss and said "Excellent use of the brush. The cherry bomb was a good finish. Ammy is quite proud of you."

Kakashi spoke up and said "What the hell did you do to that guy? And what do you mean by brush? And who's Ammy? Whatever you did, my Sharingan couldn't copy it."

Hinata giggled and said "Sorry Kakashi-san, but what I did is a secret. Ammy is a lot of things, but she is the one who taught Ruto-kun and I how to do that. She wishes to remain anonymous for now. And your Sharingan couldn't copy it since what I did was not using any jutsus."

Kakashi obviously wasn't happy with her answer, but he remained silent and watched as the screen cycled once again.

* * *

The next match was Tenten vs. Sabaku no Temari.

Once the contestants got down, Hayate began the match. Tenten immediately jumped back and gave herself distance. She made the first move by throwing a few kunai and shuriken, which seemingly missed Temari.

Tenten narrowed her eyes at Temari when the tools didn't hit their mark. She tossed a few more kunai, with the same result.

Temari laughed and said "If all you are going to do is throw things at me, you might as well give up. Thrown weapons will never hit me."

Tenten said "We'll see about that!" before placing two scrolls on the ground. She made a few handsigns and leapt into the air, with the scrolls exploding and unrolling around her. Midjump, Tenten pulled a huge variety of weapons out of the scrolls and began chucking them at Temari. All of them missed.

Landing, Tenten said "I think I've figured it out. You are constantly cycling the air around you somehow, and whenever any of my weapons get close, you increase the cycling slightly so that they miss."

"Oh, I'm impressed." Answered Temari. "You're the first one to guess that right. But you must now know that chucking things at me will never work."

Tenten nodded and said "Tools might not work, but what about fire?" She then took a scroll out and unrolled it, holding it in front of her at Temari. She channeled chakra into it, and a large fireball shot out of the scroll towards Temari.

Temari just smirked as the fireball got closer and closer. She didn't do anything, and once the fireball got within a meter of her, it got caught in the air current that surrounded Temari. The fireball followed the wind and started spinning around Temari, getting bigger and bigger. Suddenly, the air current shifted, and the fireball shot straight back towards Tenten.

Tenten barely managed to dodge the huge fireball by jumping over it, but her left arm still got heavily burned as she jumped. When she landed, she said to Temari "I did not expect that to happen. I didn't realize that you could control your wind so well, and I got burned because of it. Literally." Turning to Hayate, Tenten said "Procter, I forfeit the match. I can't fight with my arm burned like this."

Hayate nodded and called "The winner of the eigth fight is Sabaku no Temari."

Instead of heading back towards the stands, Temari walked up to Tenten and said "That was a good fight. You're the first person to realize that I controlled air currents like that, and wisely chose to use a fire attack, thinking that the fire would overwhelm the wind. If I hadn't trained as much as I have to combat my elemental weakness to fire, I probably would have lost. Let's get you to the medical ward to check on that burn."

With that, the two walked off. The screen began cycling through names again, and this time stopped on Choji Akimichi vs. Dosu Kinuta.

The two walked down to the center, but before Hayate could even begin the match, Dosu said to Choji "You should just give up fatso."

Immediately, Choji responded by saying "What did you just say?"

Dosu rolled his visable eye, and said "I said that you should just give up, fatso!"

Choji suddenly got a scary fire in his eye, and said in a quiet, but somehow very audible voice "Procter, begin the match. There's somebody that I have to turn into road kill."

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. I'm splitting the prelims up like Junior the Wolf suggested that I do. There are only two fights left after this one, but they are going to be the biggest ones, or at least the most environmentally destructive ones in the entire prelims. For your information, the people who haven't fought are Kiba, Yugito, Lee, Fu, and Shino.**

**Who will fight who? More importantly, who will win?**

**Find out next time.**

**Slice N Dicer**


	31. Chapter 30: Preliminaries, part 2

**(A/N) And we are back. I'm sorry for not updating the past few days, but I've been annoyingly busy.**

**It's time for the final matchups in the prelims! These are going to be fun.**

**Not much to say, so on with the story!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 30: Preliminaries, part 2

"Alright, *cough* the ninth matchup of the *cough* preliminaries is Choji Akimichi vs. Dosu *cough* Kinuta. Hajime!"

Instantly, Choji ran through hand signs and yelled "**BAIKA NO JUTSU!**" However, this time, Choji did not just expand into a round ball. This time, he expanded into a _giant_ round ball. From top to bottom, Choji was now 20 feet tall. He had a ten foot radius, and he looked pissed off.

Choji yelled out "NOBODY CALLS ME FAT!" before he tucked in his arms and legs, and began spinning in place.

Dosu was extremely intimidated by the 20 foot tall wrecking ball that was spinning in place faster and faster. He was thinking that he might have underestimated the fat kid, and was beginning to regret calling him fat. However, he knew how his melody arm worked, and the fatter the opponent, the more effective it was, as the sound waves would wreak havoc on the fat cells.

So he dashed towards the spinning ball, and was about to make a swing, when the ball shot forwards at an insane speed, and completely squashed Dosu. Leaving an indent in his wake, Choji continued rolling around the stadium, and proceeded to squash Dosu's body once more. The wrecking ball that was Choji repeated this process several times, until he finally came to a screeching stop.

Releasing his jutsu, Choji proceeded to pull out a new bag of chips and began munching on them as he started to head back to the stands.

Hayate stepped forwards as the medics rushed forth and began peeling Dosu off of the floor, and said "The winner *cough* of round nine is *cough* Choji Akimichi."

When Choji got to the top of the stands, everyone looked at him with new respect in their eyes. In fact, Ino had stars in her eyes and said "That was awesome Choji-kun! In my opinion, there is no kill like overkill, and that definitely qualified as overkill! How about we head out for lunch together sometime?"

At that, Choji blushed a bright red and said "Umm…sure thing, Ino-chan. I'll try not to eat as much as I normally do."

Everybody was completely surprised that he said that. After all, it is only once in a blue moon that an Akimichi willingly restrains his eating habits for others.

Naruto smirked at this, as he recognized that the two would be Konoha's next couple. However, Naruto was unable to tease the two, as the screen had begun cycling through names again.

* * *

This time the matchup was Rock Lee vs. Kiba Inuzuka.

Immediately, Guy called out "ALL RIGHT! IT'S TIME FOR THE MOST YOUTHFUL OF SHOWDOWNS!"

Lee also called out "YOSH! LET US MAKE THIS A MATCH TO REMEMBER, KIBA-KUN!"

Kiba meanwhile had a smirk on his face, and he said "This is gonna be fun! Alright Lee, let's make this our best match yet! I'll race you downstairs!"

"A YOUTHFUL RACE TO START A YOUTHFUL FIGHT! I LIKE IT!" called out Guy. "THE FIRST ONE TO THEIR POSITION EARNS THE CHANCE TO RACE ME! ON MY READY!"

"GO!"

To everyone who wasn't experienced that was watching, Kiba and Lee appeared to blur out of existence, and reappear down in the stadium a moment later.

"IT'S A TIE! LOOKS LIKE BOTH OF YOU WILL BE RACING ME!" shouted Guy.

Kakashi just looked at Kiba in shock, and he turned to Guy and asked "What the hell have you been doing with him? I leave him in your care for a week, and he's that fast already?"

Guy just turned to Kakashi and gave him a blinding grin, and said "That's right! The flames of youth in Kiba burn just as hot as Lee's, if not hotter. Those two are the strongest of friends, but the bitterest of rivals. Kiba trained day and night for three straight days just so that he could catch up to Lee's level. Seeing Kiba catch up only stoked Lee's flames even more, and they pushed each other to the edge and beyond. Now they refuse to be out done by each other. They are like you and me, Kakashi, eternal rivals! Now they are pitted in combat, and we will see whose flames burn brighter!"

Back in the stadium, Hayate had stepped forwards, and was saying "Round ten *cough* is Rock Lee vs. Kiba Inuzuka. Hajime!"

Right when Hayate said to begin, both Kiba and Lee started doing stretches. Kiba asked Lee "Should we do a warm-up first, or go straight to full power?"

"Let us do a warm-up, so that the crowd may feel our burning youth!" answered Lee.

The pair finished stretching, and Kiba reached into his coat and pulled Akamaru out. He said to his dog "Akamaru, stay out of the warm-up. We'll fight together afterwards."

Akamaru barked in agreement, and walked a little ways off and sat down. Kiba and Lee both got into a ready stance, before Kiba lunged at Lee with a clawed hand. Lee ducked under the hand, and attempted an uppercut, but Kiba jumped into the air to dodge it. Lee leapt after Kiba, and attempted a rising kick. However, Kiba grabbed Lee's leg and did a backflip while holding his leg. Mid-flip, Kiba released Lee's leg, sending him flying to the ground. Lee recovered by flipping in midair, but the ground he landed on cracked from the force of Kiba's throw.

The two combatants were back on the ground again, and they charged each other once more. They began a fierce dance of punches, kicks, dodges, and blocks, until Kiba slipped up on one of his kicks. Lee grabbed Kiba's leg, and spun Kiba around by twisting his leg. However, Kiba just controlled his spin and landed on all fours. Kiba then used the power of both his arms and his legs to shoot of the ground towards Lee, and he called out **"TSUGA!"** as he spun into his technique. Lee just waited for Kiba to approach, and right before Kiba connected, Lee slammed his fist down into the oncoming whirlwind.

Lee's attack slammed the whirlwind downwards, but it did not stop it. Kiba drilled through the stone floor a little before he came to a stop and jumped away from Lee.

Suddenly, Guy's voice was heard from the stands, saying "ALRIGHT YOU TWO! ENOUGH WARMING UP! ITS TIME TO GET THIS SHOW STARTED!"

Both Kiba and Lee called out "HAI, GUY-SENSEI!" before getting back into their ready stances. This time, Akamaru walked over to Kiba's side, and Kiba called out "**Jujin Bunshin!**" This caused Akamaru to turn into a perfect replica of Kiba.

Lee grinned at this and said "Let's see how long it will take for one of you two to hit me this time!" before charging the two Kibas.

Lee was following the principle that the best defense is a good offense, and he showed his taijutsu mastery by successfully attacking both Kiba and Akamaru while leaving no room for either to counter. He would attack one of them with a flurry of blows, but whenever he would see the other prepare to attack, he would change targets.

However, both Kiba's suddenly jumped away from Lee, giving them time to start rotating. Kiba called out "**Gatsuga!**" as both he and Akamaru became spinning vortexes and shot towards Lee.

Now Lee was on the defensive, and he used all of his speed to dodge the well-coordinated vortexes. However, Lee was eventually caught, and Kiba slammed into him. Lee managed to block the hit with his arms, but the vortex pushed Lee all the way to the wall, before slamming his back into the wall. Lee grunted in pain, but he could feel that Kiba was losing momentum, and the moment that Kiba stopped spinning, Lee pushed Kiba forwards before sending him flying across the room with a roundhouse kick.

With Kiba out of the way for the moment, Lee looked down at his arms. To put it lightly, they were shredded. Since they were heavily bleeding, so Lee pulled some spare bandages out of his pouch and wrapped them around his arms.

Meanwhile, Kiba was standing up slowly. He felt that his right arm had been broken from Lee's roundhouse. He called Akamaru over to him, and said quietly to his dog "All right. My arm's busted, but I also shredded Lee's arm pretty badly. If I know him, he'll try to finish this with one move by using the Omote Renge. If he does that, we'll use that technique we've been working on ever since he showed it to us." Looking over to Lee, he saw him look to Guy, and he saw Guy give the slightest of nods.

Lee then pulled down his leg warmers, to reveal a bands on both of his legs that had the kanji for "gravity" on them. Lee made a hand sign, and the kanji disappeared. Lee pulled his leg warmers back up and stood up, before calling out to Kiba, saying "I'm sorry to do this to you, my rival, but I'm ending this fight!"

Lee then seemingly vanished, only to reappear in front of Kiba and deliver a fearsome kick that sent him flying into the air. Lee then vanished again, and reappeared behind Kiba. He grabbed hold of Kiba, and began spinning extremely fast. Suddenly, the Kiba that Lee was holding turned into Akamaru, and the real Kiba appeared behind Lee and grabbed a hold of him. Lee was now in the same position that Kiba had just been in, and Kiba called out "**Omote Renge: Reversal!"**

Kiba pile-drived Lee into the ground, sending chunks of the floor flying, and leaving a huge crater, but he did not put his full strength into it. As soon as the technique ended, Kiba ran over and crouched next to Lee. Kiba was shocked to find that he was still conscious.

Lee weakly held his arm out, and said "Good match…my rival…" before falling unconscious. The medics hurried forwards and put Lee on a stretcher and then hurried him to the medical ward, with Kiba and Akamaru close behind him.

At this, Hayate stepped forwards and said "The winner *cough* of round ten is Kiba *cough* Inuzuka. We will take another *cough* short break while we *cough* repair the field. The final match will *cough* be decided when the field is *cough* fixed."

**(In the stands)**

"Damn, both Kiba and Lee have now officially earned my respect." Stated Naruto.

However, Kakashi was not in the mood to be impressed. He turned on Guy and said "You taught _genin_ how to open the eight gates? Are you mad? And more, you taught that to Kiba without my permission!"

Guy just said "I taught Kiba only the first gate. However, he clearly opened the second when he used that technique. I didn't teach him that though, so he must have taught himself how to open more than just the first gate. I also never heard him speak a word about a technique that counters the Omote Renge, so he must have made that himself. You should be proud of your student, Kakashi, not angry at me."

Kakashi sighed and said "I guess not. However, I will be having a strict word with Kiba about the dangers of the eight gates. I am actually quite pleased to see just how strong he has gotten from just a week of training with you. I never would have thought it possible to advance that fast."

Guy gave another flashy grin and said "It's just another miracle brought on by the power of youth!"

Kakashi sweat dropped, but pursued the subject no further. Maybe there was something to Guy's youth thing after all.

Shaking the horrifying thought out of his head, Kakashi then said "So the final three people are Shino, Fu, and Yugito. I wonder what the matchup will be."

Naruto grinned and said "All of the possible matchups of those three would be very interesting fights. They are all on the same team, and know each other's moves very well. This will probably be the best fight of the preliminaries."

"But aren't Shino and Fu-chan dating? Wouldn't they not fight each other if they got matched up?" asked Ino.

Naruto grinned and said "No, Fu would want to fight, and from what I've seen of those two, what Fu says, goes. They would just treat it like an intense sparring session without any rules. It would actually be a pretty cool fight to watch. Anyways, it looks like they've finished repairing the field, so let's see what the final matchup is."

* * *

The screen flickered to life, and began the final cycling of names. It stopped on Fu Aburame vs. Yugito Nii.

When the two in question saw this, they silently walked towards their positions. Once ready, Hayate stepped forwards and announced "The final *cough* match is Fu Aburame vs Yugito *cough* Nii. Hajime!

**(In the stands)**

The normally quiet Shino surprisingly spoke up the moment Fu and Yugito left, saying "This is the matchup that I was hoping wouldn't happen."

The ever curious Ino asked "Why?" and Shino responded by saying "It's because I don't get to fight."

Everyone sweatdropped at his surprisingly selfish answer, until he continued, saying "It's also because this will be the most destructive fight of the preliminaries. Kurenai-sensei had to ban the two from sparring because they would destroy whatever training grounds they were sparring in. They both like using jutsus that most would consider to be "overkill". However, what we see as overkill, they see as a normal means to an end. I think it's due to their rather impressive chakra reserves, but then again, both Naruto and Hinata outclass them in chakra and they aren't overly showy."

At this, Hinata giggled and said "Well, both Ruto-kun and I would be more "showy" as you say, if it were not for the fact that our "showy" jutsus would cause village wide panic. We have a tendency to model our strongest jutsus into the form of something that has to do with a kitsune, usually with multiple tails, as a show of respect to Kurama-sensei and all of Kitsune kind. The civilians of the village have unfortunately developed an unhealthy fear of anything to do with foxes, and we do not wish to cause panic, even if it would be funny to see the villagers running around screaming. That and the fact that are "showy" jutsus would level a good portion of the village if we released them. Now let's watch the fight then."

**(With Fu and Yugito)**

"So, are you ready to reveal our secret?" asked Fu to Yugito.

"Yup, let's get this show started!" answered Yugito.

The two both made a hand sign and yelled "KAI!" There was an explosion of shimmering scales and blue flames, and when it settled, it revealed Fu and Yugito in their Hanyou forms. They also had new outfits.

Fu was wearing a white low cut tank top with a red trim along the edges that was cut along her midriff so that it revealed her stomach. She wore tight white shorts, also with a red trim, that went down to a little above her knees, and wore white ninja shoes. Both arms had white armlets with a yellow trim, and tied to her right arm was a leaf Hitai-ate. She had a ninja pouch on her right leg, and wore a necklace that ended in a realistic looking beetle. Her mint green hair was slightly longer than it was during the team assignments, but it still retained the previous style. Finally, she had a tattoo of a beetle on her lower back.

Yugito was wearing a low cut blue short sleeved shirt that had black markings that made it resemble Matatabi. She wore black pants with a blue flame motif and black ninja shoes. She had a leaf Hitai-ate secured around her left arm at the edge of her shirt, and a ninja pouch on her right leg. Her blonde hair was no longer tied in a ponytail, and hung loose down to her mid-back. Finally, she wore a necklace that ended in a cat's eye gemstone.

**(In the stands)**

"What the hell just happened to those two? They sort of look like Naruto and Hinata." Yelled Ino.

Hinata giggled and said "They decided to reveal their biggest secret. They are actually both Hanyou, like Ruto-kun and I. Didn't you ever wonder why Yugito-chan's eye color suddenly was different after she came back from her first training session with her sensei?"

"Well, yeah, but I just thought they were crazy contact lenses or something. You're telling me that her eye color changed because she became a Hanyou?" asked Ino.

Naruto then said "That's right. Yugito-chan merged with the Nibi bijuu, which she was previously the jinchuriki of. She got two tails, a pair of cat ears, and her distinguishing mark, which is her different eye color from the merge, as well as turning eighteen."

At this, Shikamaru asked "What do you mean by distinguishing mark, Naruto?"

"A distinguishing mark is a mark that all Hanyou carry. It is usually unique to each Hanyou, and it cannot be changed with a henge. My mark is the whisker marks I have, and while Hina-chan also has them, I cannot hide mine with a henge while she can. I just get around that by using a henge that has bandages on my cheeks whenever I don't want civilians to bother me. Hina-chan's mark is her fox tattoo on her breast, and as I said, Yugito-chan's is her eyes. I have to assume that Fu-chan's is the beetle tattoo on her lower back." Explained Naruto.

"Wait, if those eyes are the mark of her being a Hanyou, wouldn't that mean that Haku is one too? She has the exact same eyes as Yugito." asked Shikamaru.

At this, Haku stepped forwards and said "Well spotted. I guess I'll reveal my secret to you." She made a handsign and said "Kai" before exploding into a whirlwind of blue flames and snowflakes.

The whirlwind died to reveal Haku, who also had gotten a wardrobe change. She now wore a silver with a light blue outline long sleeved kimono that was opened a little in the front, revealing some of her cleavage. The kimono had light blue snowflakes of varying shapes and sizes as a pattern. She wore basic silver shoes, and had a light blue sash around her waist. Finally, she wore a silver necklace that ended in an icicle made of actual ice.

After staring for a moment, Ino said "Well, that's certainly a very nice kimono, but it doesn't seem to be too useful for a ninja. It has to be hard to fight in that. Besides, you're not even wearing a ninja pouch!"

Haku giggled at Ino's statement and said "I prefer kimonos to other things as I find them comfortable. I am quite used to fighting in them, so they don't hold me back. I also don't need a ninja pouch, thanks to Naruto Nii-san." She pulled up her kimono's right sleeve a little and revealed an armband that had an extremely complicated seal on it. She then continued, saying "Naruto invented this special storage seal. It can seal an absurd amount of items of any variety within it. The drawback is that the more items inside of the seal, the more chakra it takes to get an item out. So it really is only practical for those who have insane amounts of chakra, like us Hanyous."

Ino then turned to Naruto and asked "How come only Haku-chan has one of those seals? Wouldn't you use one as well?"

"I intend on using one, however the one that Haku-chan is using is the first one I made. I finished the design only a few days ago, and I only had time to make one armband. It takes four straight hours to draw the seal, then I have to transfer it to whatever I want to have it. I gave the first to Haku because she would be able to use it the most effectively, as her primary ninja tools are senbon. In a most storage scrolls, they store by the amount of items, and senbon rapidly fill the scroll to its capacity. With this seal, it won't run out of capacity, and the only drawback of the seal barely affects her." Answered Naruto.

Shino then surprisingly spoke up, and said "Since today seems to be the day that secrets are revealed, I shall reveal mine as well."

Shino made a hand seal and said "Kai" before his body literally turned into millions of Kikai. They flew around before coming back together and forming Shino once more. As with the others, he had a wardrobe change as well. He now wore a long black trench coat **(think Ibiki's coat)** that was open in the front, revealing a dark blue muscle shirt that showed off his surprisingly defined muscles. He wore black pants and a pair of black military boots. He still wore the same glasses and had the same bushy hairstyle. He completed his outfit with a leaf Hitai-ate that was tied around his forehead.

Shikamaru then spoke up, saying "Badass outfit, Shino. I have to assume that your Fu's mate. Although mate wouldn't really be the right term.

"You are correct." Answered Shino. "Fu made me her king, as she is a queen of insects. She merged with the Nanabi, the seven tailed Kabutomushi, who she once held as her prisoner. Now, let us watch the fight."

"Wait one second!" shouted Ino. "If Haku-chan has the same distinguishing mark as Yugito-chan, then doesn't that mean that she is Haku's mate?"

Naruto grinned and said "Yes it does."

"But wouldn't that make her a lesbian?" asked Ino.

Naruto's grin widened and he said "Actually, both are bisexual. But I don't think they will be sharing each other with anybody else. Now shut up so we can watch."

**(With Fu and Yugito)**

Both Fu and Yugito had been idly sparring with each other while the people on the stands were talking. They actually had been listening to the whole conversation.

Now that they had everybody's attention, they halted their sparring, and Fu said "Alright, let's put on a good show, sister!"

Yugito nodded and started going through handsigns. She finished and called out "**Neko no Hi: Sei Akujo!**" **(Cat fire: Hellcat), **before exhaling a large amount of blue flames. The flames came together and took the form of a cat with red eyes, before pouncing at Fu.

Right before the flaming cat was about to reach her, Fu flapped her wings and took off into the air, leaving a cloud of scale powder behind. The moment the flaming cat touched the powder, the powder ignited, causing a huge explosion.

Yugito shielded herself from any debris with her arms, but kept a close watch on the cloud of dust that explosion had left behind. Sure enough, a large blade of wind cut through the cloud and headed straight at her.

Yugito made a few quick hand signs and said "**Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!**" before exhaling a ball of fire at the blade of wind.

To Yugito's surprise, when the fireball connected with the wind blade, it caused another explosion. Right after the explosion subsided, another wind blade came shooting at her, this time at a 45 degree angle. Looking closely, Yugito saw that the wind blade was sparkling slightly.

Yugito did a backflip to dodge the blade, and the blade sliced deep into the stone floor. Yugito looked up and saw that the dust from the first explosion had finally settled, and she saw her opponent hovering in the air, tails buzzing behind her. She called out and said "Very clever, putting your scale powder within your wind blades so that my fire wouldn't just absorb the wind and get bigger."

Fu just grinned and started spinning in midair, causing a tornado of wind and scale powder to form around her. She called out "**Rinpun: Tatsumaki!**" **(Scale powder: Tornado) **and with one final spin, she let it loose upon Yugito.

The tornado churned up the floor as it traveled towards Yugito, who made a few quick hand signs and exhaled another fireball at the tornado. While she exhaled, she continued making hand signs and the moment she finished the fireball, she called out "**Neko no Hi: Kansho-Ki!**" **(Shock absorber)**, before releasing a dome of blue fire from her body.

The moment Yugito's fireball connected with the oncoming tornado, there was a massive explosion as the fire ignited the powder. The explosion released a huge shockwave that knocked the people in the stands over.

When the dust finally settled, it revealed that Yugito's dome of fire was still standing, although it was no longer a circular dome. The force of the blast had put a huge dent in the flaming dome on the side that faced the blast. The flaming dome then flickered and died, revealing a panting Yugito.

Suddenly, the ground directly in front of Yugito cracked, and then broke and Fu flew out, attempting to deal an uppercut to Yugito's jaw.

Yugito back flipped away from the punch just in time, and when she landed, she watched Fu carefully.

Fu grinned at Yugito and said "You must be feeling exhausted after using your Kansho-Ki. That jutsu creates a dome that absorbs incoming shockwaves, but it puts a tremendous strain on your body, with the strain being greater if the shockwaves absorbed are stronger. And given the fact that that explosion's shockwave knocked everyone in the stands over, including our fellow Hanyou, you must be about ready to drop. I just hid underground the moment I saw you go to use a fire jutsu. Thank kami I have an earth affinity as well as a wind one."

Yugito let out a pained smirk and said "You're right. I feel like I'm about to drop, but I won't forfeit."

Fu's grin widened and she started going through hand signs while jumping backwards before saying "All right. Then let's see how you deal with this! **Rinpun: Nanabi Kaze!**" **(Seven tailed winds) **before she did a backflip, shooting six vertical wind blades from each of her tails. The blades converged into a massive vertical blade, and when Fu landed her flip, she exhaled a seventh blade horizontally. The horizontal blade sped into the vertical one, creating a cross of wind that sped straight towards Yugito.

Yugito barely Kawarimied with a piece of rubble in time. She watched as the wind cross sliced into the wall and cut straight through it, not stopping for anything. The cross continued well into the forest of death, cutting through everything in its way, before it finally dissipated right after it sliced the gate surrounding the forest.

**(In the stands)**

Hinata relayed the information of how far the cross went, along with how many things it killed **(15 giant spiders, 12 giant leeches, a wolverine, and a passing flock of birds) **to the other watchers, as she had watched it carve a path of destruction with her Byakugan.

Ino just yelled "Is Fu crazy? Yugito could have died!"

Naruto grinned and said "Nah, she would have received some nasty cuts and be unconscious for a day, but she would be fine. Hanyou are pretty tough, you know. So while that may have seemed like overkill for you guys, that's what it would take to bring us down for a day. That and Yugito is just stubborn."

**(With Fu and Yugito)**

After Yugito finished watching the cross, she turned her attention back to the grinning Fu and started going through an insane amount of handsigns with amazing speed. She finished and called out "**Neko no Hi: Kokuten!**" **(Sunspot)**, before holding her palm to the air. A small blue fireball appeared in her hand, and it started to rapidly expand until it was five meters in diameter. The now massive fireball gave off so much heat that it raised the temperature of the entire room to over 100 degrees.

A spot on the fireball that faced Fu gradually started getting darker and darker, before it finally turned black. Suddenly, a wave of intense blue fire shot out of the black spot straight towards Fu, using the fireball as the source of the flames.

Fu barely Kawarimied with rubble in time, but she wasn't out of trouble yet. The dark spot on the fireball started shifting towards her, with the accompanying stream of flames turning the stone it hit molten.

Fu then started flying close to the ground, so that the fire stream wouldn't hit any bystanders, and flew in a circle around the fireball, gradually making it use its fuel source. The fireball eventually ran out, and the black spot disappeared when it did.

After the attack ended, Fu carefully landed on a part of the ground that wasn't molten, and called out to Yugito, saying "Great, now it's annoyingly hot in here. How about we just end this like we usually do? I'm getting sort of bored and we put on a nice show for the audience."

Yugito answered by saying "Sure, why not. A fight between us wouldn't actually end anytime soon, so let's just end it that way."

Fu then flew to where Yugito was standing and…

"ROCK"

"PAPER"

"SCISSORS"

The combatants held out their hands. Fu held out rock while Yugito held scissors. Seeing this, Yugito raised her hand and said "Procter, I forfeit."

A clearly stunned Hayate walked forwards and said "The *cough* winner of the final round is *cough* Fu Aburame! Will all of the winners please come outside with me so that we can explain the rules for the finals. _And to get out of this sauna!_" He added mentally.

* * *

All of the winners headed out of the room and into what appeared to be a small classroom. Once they were all there, Hayate walked in holding twelve slips of paper, and handed one slip to each genin. He then said "Read *cough* off the numbers *cough* that are on your *cough* slips."

"One" said Hinata.

"Four" said Ino.

"Five" said Shikamaru.

"Two" said Neji.

"Seven" said Shino.

"Eleven" said Gaara.

"Six" said Temari.

"Three" said Kiba.

"Nine" said Haku.

"Eight" said Choji.

"Ten" said Fu

"Twelve" said Naruto.

Hayate coughed and said "Very well. The first *cough* matchup will be Hinata vs. *cough* Neji. Second is Kiba *cough* vs. Ino. Third is Shikamaru vs. *cough* Temari. Fourth *cough* is Shino vs. Choji. Fifth *cough* is Haku vs. *cough* Fu. And sixth is *cough* Gaara vs. Naruto. You all have a month to *cough* rest, relax, and train *cough* before the finals, so I would *cough* suggest using the time *cough* wisely. You will all *cough* be escorted back through the *cough* forest in a half hour. Do what you *cough* want until then.

With that said, Hayate left the room, and the time to prepare for the finals officially started.

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. For those of you who can't understand Hayate due to his cough, I will repeat the matchups in order:**

**Hinata vs. Neji**

**Kiba vs. Ino**

**Shikamaru vs. Temari**

**Shino vs. Choji**

**Haku vs. Fu**

**Gaara vs. Naruto**

**So now everybody has a month to prepare. I need to think of how I want to do this. It will probably be one big timeskippy chapter with various events and happenings thrown in.**

**Until next time,**

**Slice N Dicer**


	32. Chapter 31: Preparations

**(A/N) And we are finally back. I'm sorry about not updating for two days again, but this week has been crazy busy for me. Hopefully I will be able to get back to updating daily again. That and this chapter had me stumped on how I wanted to work it. Usually I have planned the events for chapters several chapters in advance, but I completely forgot to plan what happened during the month of training. But now I've thought of some things, so I can finally get this chapter done!**

**Without further ado, let's begin!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 31: Preparations

When Naruto and Hinata finally got back home, they went straight to their haven to relax **(In other words, have sex)**. After their "relaxing session", they were sitting in the hot spring, when Hinata said "So how do you want to do this month, Ruto-kun?"

"I say we should just focus on getting stronger. I know that we pretty much outclass everybody else in the finals, but we know the invasion is happening, and it is our job to save as many people as we can. We have to be sure that we are strong enough to take somebody of Orochimaru's level and win. But the only way we could be sure of that is if we were able to beat another sannin. Nobody knows where Tsunade is, and I doubt my Godfather will be showing up soon, so it looks like we will just stick with training with Kurama-sensei, Ammy, and my parents." Answered Naruto.

"Okay, Naru-kun, we'll train our hardest with them. Hopefully a month of focused training will be enough to ensure that we are at that level." Replied Hinata.

**(Timeskip no Jutsu)**

After that day, Naruto and Hinata began their harsh training regime. They split their time evenly between Kurama, who taught them advanced control with their foxfire, Ammy, who taught them the advanced portions of the basic brush techniques, Minato, who taught them advanced fuinjutsu, as well as starting to help them combine their rasengan with elemental chakra, and Kushina, who helped both Naruto and Hinata become more adept at using their unique weapons, as Kushina was an adept weaponsmaster.

For the next fifteen days, all Naruto and Hinata did was eat, sleep, train, and occasionally have sex. By the end of those days, both Naruto and Hinata had full control over foxfire, and were able to use the advanced brush techniques Fireburst, Icestorm, Whirlwind, and Deluge, as well as bringing their power slash's strength to level two. Naruto was now officially a fuinjutsu master, and Hinata was an advanced user. Both Naruto and Hinata were able to combine their wind and water elements respectively with their rasengans, but they still both were not able to combine regular fire or foxfire with it. They also had not taken the elemental combination to its finest level yet **(So no Rasenshuriken yet, but Futon: Rasengan and Suiton: Rasengan are usable)**. Naruto was now able to fight on par with Asuma in a fight that used solely their trench knives, and his swordsmanship had increased even further. Hinata, although she didn't know it, was at the level that Hanzo was in his prime at using her Kusarigama, and she was able to use her butterfly daggers at the level of Taki, who Minato had brought to the Narutoverse temporarily for her to train with. Both Naruto and Hinata were now able to use each other's weapons comfortably, but they still preferred their own.

**(Timeskip no Jutsu KAI!)**

On the sixteenth day, Naruto and Hinata decided to take a break from training. They decided to check in with the Hokage on how the defense of the leaf was shaping up.

When Naruto and Hinata appeared in front of Hiruzen in a flash of lavender, he said "Ah, Naruto, Hinata, what can I do for you two?"

"I would like to know how the defensive measures are coming along old man." Requested Naruto.

"They are coming along as well as they are able to regarding the fact that I am doing them in secret. I do not want Suna and Oto to become suspicious. I have increased ANBU patrols, and those who are not patrolling are training. By time the finals come around, they will be better than they have ever been. I have also had all jonin and chunin step up their own training, but I haven't told them about the invasion. I cannot risk our enemies knowing that we know about their plans." Answered Hiruzen.

Naruto nodded and said "Good. When the attack comes, we will hit them back with our full power. Suna and Oto will not be expecting that we have been training harder than ever. However, we still have to be careful. I have a hunch that Orochimaru is somehow behind this attack, and that he will appear during it. Hina-chan and I have been training extra hard so that we will be able to defeat him in a fight, but we have no way of knowing where we are compared to him, as both Tsunade and Jiraiya are nowhere to be found so we can't test ourselves against them."

Hiruzen also nodded and said "I agree with you that Orochimaru must be behind this attack. His sudden appearance in the forest of death only strengthens that theory. However, you two are in luck. I just received word that Jiraiya has just returned to the village. He has not come by yet, so I would say that he is doing "research" at the hot springs. He was last here when you were three, so he knows nothing about your current life. I would suggest meeting with him before he comes by here so that you two can explain your own story to him, instead of me. He will undoubtedly want to know what has become of his godson after all."

Naruto gained an evil grin upon hearing this and said "Thanks for telling me that old man. My wife and I are going to have a little chat with my godfather about responsibilities. Ja Na!"

With that, Hinata grabbed Naruto's hand and the pair disappeared in a flash of lavender.

Hiruzen was left there thinking "_Jiraiya you poor bastard. You had better hope that he doesn't summon his parents."_

**(Konoha's Hot Springs)**

Naruto and Hinata appeared in a flash of lavender a little ways from where Jiraiya was currently doing his research. The pair henged into their thirteen year old selves, although Hinata had her jacket unzipped, and started walking over to the pervert. Naruto tapped him on the shoulder and said "Hey mister, you probably shouldn't be peeping on girls. Who knows what they would do to you if they found out. They'll probably think your some kind of pervert."

Jiraiya whirled around and said "Who do you think you are, kid? You don't even have a clue who I am, do you? Allow me to enlighten you!" He made a dramatic pose with his arms outstretched and palms open and continued "I am the one who has trained with the toads to become a sage! I am the one who has traveled the world and written best-selling novels! I am the one who has been named a sannin! I am the one, the only, the great and powerful Jiraiya!"

Naruto and Hinata sweat dropped at his ridiculous introduction and Hinata said "You just seem like a pervert to me."

Jiriaya shifted his attention to Hinata, who he hadn't noticed before, at the sound of her voice and said "Well hello their little lady! How about me, you, and your C-cups meet up later for- OOOPH!"

Jiriaya was cut off by Naruto's fist slamming into his gut. Naruto then growled "That's _my _wife that you're going after you pervert. And we are both thirteen, don't you have any boundaries? And you call yourself my godfather."

"Boundaries, shmounderies, if she has breasts that big than she's old enough for me! Wait a moment, did you say godfather? Wait, blonde hair and whisker marks? Your name wouldn't happen to be Naruto would it?" asked Jiraiya carefully.

Jiraiya was standing up again now, only for Naruto to punch him in the gut again and say "So ero-sennin finally figures it out. Now apologize to my wife, you pervert!"

Jiraiya groaned as he stood up again and said "Well, well, it seems that my godson is doing better than I ever thought he would. Married at thirteen! And to a Hyuuga from the looks of it! I've heard good things about Hyuuga women, you know." He then bowed deeply to Hinata, and continued "My apologies, miss. It seems that you are taken already."

While Jiraiya was bowing, Naruto slammed his palm into the back of Jiraiya's head, sending him crashing to the ground. Jiraiya was instantly indignant and he leapt up and said "What now? I apologized!"

Naruto grinned and said "Yes, but you were staring at my wife's breasts while you bowed. Don't do it again or I will use my full strength next time."

Hinata giggled and said "Ruto-kun and I have been married since we were both five. My name is Hinata, and if you value your life, I would listen to what my husband says. He's very strong you know."

The gears in Jiraiya's brain started turning after hearing this, and he turned to Naruto and said "Wait, you're telling me that you are married to Hinata Hyuuga, who is the daughter to Hiashi Hyuuga and heiress to the Hyuuga clan? The last time I was here, most of the village hated you as far as I could tell! That, and Hiashi is one of the biggest pricks in existence! How the hell did you pull off marrying his daughter?

Naruto grinned and said "I completely bypassed Hiashi and the entire Hyuuga clan by using a very rarely used style of marrying. Hina-chan then relinquished all of her rights as heiress to her little sister by using a rarely used clan law and officially joined my clan. That didn't happen till earlier this year, although we've been technically married since we were five."

The gears in Jiraiya's brain were working overtime as he tried to process this, and he looked at Hinata once more. This time he actually noticed her tattoo when he looked at her breasts. Realizing what it was, he turned back to Naruto with a horrified look on his face and said "Pull up your shirt and start channeling chakra, now! There is something I need to check that is of utmost importance!"

Naruto grinned and motioned to Hinata. She grabbed both Naruto and Jiraiya's hands and warped with Sorime.

* * *

When they reappeared, Jiraiya yelled "What the hell was that? It felt like my old student's jutsu, the Hiraishin!"

Hinata giggled and said "No, it's not the Hiraishin. It's a jutsu of my own making called Sorime."

Jiraiya was dumbstruck. He asked "How the hell did you make that? A genin shouldn't be able to use space-time jutsu at all!"

Naruto grinned and said "She made it by basing it on the mechanics of the Hiraishin, and modifying it so that you don't need the seals necessary for Hiraishin. Sorime allows the user to warp anywhere within their eyesight. Since Hina-chan has the Byakugan, she can use Sorime to its full potential."

"How would she even know the mechanics behind the Hiraishin? The only people that Minato ever explained it to where his bodyguards." He then looked around for the first time and said "And where the hell are we? It looks like some sort of clan compound bedroom. Wait. What clan did Hinata join when she left the Hyuuga?" asked Jiraiya.

Naruto's grin widened and he said "Hina-chan joined me in the Namikaze clan!"

"B-but…h-how?" was all that Jiraiya stuttered out before he gathered himself and said "You were not supposed to learn of your heritage until you turned eighteen!"

Hinata giggled and said "Technically, we are eighteen. Why don't you check on Ruto-kun's seal now?"

Ignoring the fact that Hinata apparently knew about Naruto's seal, Jiraiya walked over to Naruto and lifted his shirt. Naruto then began channeling chakra while Jiraiya watched on, and to Jiraiya's horrifying surprise, the seal didn't show up.

Jiraiya mumbled out "Where did the seal go?" in a quiet voice, but Naruto still heard him and said "It's gone. I removed it."

Jiraiya jumped up and screamed "WHAAAAAT!"

Naruto repeated "I removed the seal. The Kyuubi is free from his prison."

Jiriaya was starting to panic, but thinking logically, he said "Wait. If you removed the seal, then you should be dead, as the Kyuubi's chakra would destroy you as it got released."

Naruto grinned and said "Or this could happen." Hinata and Naruto then made a handsign and said "Kai." There was a whirlwind of orange and lavender flames, and they died to reveal the two Hanyou.

Seeing this, Jiraiya's brain finally went on melt down and he fainted.

* * *

Jiraiya finally came to a few hours later, and he shot up from where he was lying. He then observed his surroundings. He was sitting on a comfortable bed in what appeared to be a guest room of a clan compound.

A voice then said "It looks like ero-sennin finally woke up. I guess we shocked him pretty badly."

Jiraiya turned to the voice and saw Naruto and Hinata sitting nearby on a couch in the corner of the room. The couple got up and walked towards him, tails swishing behind them.

Jiraiya found his voice and said "So that wasn't some sort of bad dream. What happened to you two?"

Naruto grinned and said "Allow me to tell you our story…"

**(One long story later)**

"So that's what happened in my life." Concluded Naruto.

Jiraiya was silent for a few minutes, before he finally said "Well kid, it looks like you turned out just fine all things considered. However, I probably should make up my not being there to you, so here's what I'll do. The rest of the time before the exam finals, I will train you two personally. While you have some great teachers already, I can help you in some areas that everybody else couldn't, namely senjutsu. Since you can't become a toad sage, I will help you two train to become fox sages, with Kurama-sama's permission of course. The principal of drawing in nature energy is universal among sages, and it is only the specific techniques that make the various sage modes unique, as well as the physical changes upon entering sage mode."

After a quick mental conversation with Kurama, Naruto said "Kurama-sensei has agreed to the senjutsu training. He said that when we are ready, he will reverse summon us to Shirotsuki **(White Moon)** Forest so that we may train in the land of the kitsune."

"All right, I just need to speak with the Hokage before we go. I'll be back in around an hour. I'll wait outside of the compound gates." Replied Jiraiya.

With that, Jiraiya disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

**(Timeskip no Jutsu)**

When Jiraiya returned, he found Naruto and Hinata waiting for him. Naruto summoned Kurama, who then reverse summoned them to Shirotsuki Forest. The land of the kitsune was a large, dense forest that was constantly bathed in the soft white light of a large full moon that remained constantly in the center of the sky.

When they arrived, the resident Kitsune immediately rejoiced when they realized that Kurama had returned. They were led to the elders of the kitsune, Gintsuki **(Gold Moon)** and Kintsuki **(Silver Moon)**. Gintsuki was an old, gold furred male fox with eight tails, and was around the size of a large dog. Kintsuki was an old silver furred vixen with seven tails, and was slightly smaller than Gintsuki.

The elders spoke privately with Kurama for a while, before they announced that they would help supervise Naruto and Hinata's senjutsu training.

The elders then took Naruto, Hinata, and Jiraiya to a secluded lake in the middle of the forest. Once there, they began their instruction.

**(Timeskip no Jutsu KAI!)**

It was now the day of the exam finals, five minutes before the first match, and the crowd of spectators were waiting eagerly in their seats for the matches to begin.

In the arena, all of the genin who made it except for Naruto and Hinata were standing in a line. In front of them was the jonin Genma Shiranui, who would be proctoring the final matches. He was chosen since Hayate was in the hospital, as he was on patrol one night and was attacked by an unknown assailant. He survived only because a nearby ANBU patrol heard a strange noise and went to investigate. Hayate had received a large cut across his chest when the ANBU found him, but they were able to get him to the hospital to save his life in time.

Shikamaru spoke up when there were two minutes before the first match began, and said "It will be troublesome if Naruto and Hinata don't get here in time."

Ino then said "If I had to guess, I would say that they are going to make a big entrance right before time runs out."

Neji scoffed and said "Or they decided to chicken out. Fate has decreed that they will always be weak fools."

Suddenly, there was a huge puff of smoke in the middle of the stadium that cleared to reveal a huge five tailed, dark blue furred fox that was sitting upright.

Instantly the civilians in the crowd started to panic, until a voice rang out and said "HAVE NO FEAR! THE GREAT JIRAIYA IS HERE!"

The civilians looked around for the source of the voice, and found it standing in a pose on top of the giant fox, with Naruto and Hinata standing beside of him in their Hanyou forms.

The civilians were very confused at the sight, as they had all heard of Jiraiya, but they couldn't even begin to comprehend as to why he was with the two demons.

Naruto, Hinata, and Jiraiya all leapt off of the fox's head, and Hinata turned to the fox and said "Seiga **(Blue fang)**, please shrink down to your usual size. I think that you have freaked enough people out for now."

To everybody's surprise, they heard the fox say in a soft, female voice "Very well mistress." Seiga then started shrinking before everybody's eyes until she reached the size of a regular fox. Seiga than walked over to Hinata and nuzzled her legs.

Naruto and Hinata then stepped forwards and stood in the line that the other genin were in. Jiriaya walked over to Genma and said "I hope we aren't late."

Genma chuckled and said "You got here with ten seconds to spare, but I bet you did that on purpose."

Jiraiya grinned and said "It was Naruto's idea, so don't blame me." He then shunshined away in a swirl of leaves.

In his box, Hiruzen got up and stepped forwards. He cleared his throat and everybody quieted down, and then said "I would like to welcome you all to this year's chunin exam finals. We will now begin the tournament. There are twelve who survived the first two exams, and they will each fight each other in a one on one match. The three winners of the first six fights will then participate in a three way free for all to decide the winner of the tournament. Without further ado, please turn your attention to the exam Procter so that we may begin"

Genma then said to the genin "All right. The first match is Hinata Namikaze vs. Neji Hyuuga, so everybody else head up to the contestants' box."

All of the genin started heading up, but Naruto stuck behind and gave Hinata a quick kiss and said "Do your best," before he followed after the other genin.

With the field now clear, Genma raised his voice so that the audience could hear him and said "The first match of the exams finals is Hinata Namikaze vs. Neji Hyuuga. HAJIME!"

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap! I can pretty much guarantee that the fight between Hinata and Neji will not go how you guys expect it to.**

**Until next time,**

**Slice N Dicer**


	33. Chapter 32: Fighting Fate

**(A/N) And we are back. Today is finally the day of the Hinata vs Neji fight that I have had planned since I started planning the exams.**

**It's also a beautiful day outside so I'm typing on my deck!**

**So without further ado, on with the story!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 32: Fighting Fate

The moment Genma said "Hajime" and leapt off the field Neji charged at Hinata with astounding speed. He launched a flurry of palm strikes at Hinata, who danced around each one of them, without even trying to strike back, all the while having a frown plastered on her face. Hinata broke off of the engagement by backflipping away from Neji.

Neji scoffed at Hinata's actions, and said "Why do you attempt to avoid combat? Is it because fate has decreed you too weak to even fight me? Just like fate has decreed that I will always live to serve the main branch."

Hinata's frown deepened at this, and she did not answer Neji. Angered at the lack of response, Neji rushed Hinata once more, this time faster than the last.

**(In the stands)**

In the Hyuuga clan section sat seven members of the Hyuuga clan. Five were the elders who made up the Hyuuga council of elders. The other two were Hiashi and Hanabi.

One of the elders said to Hanabi "Watch closely, Hanabi-sama, as the strongest branch member of our clan destroys the traitor. We have trained him over the last month for the sole purpose of showing what happens to those who betray our clan. We will not have our pure blood be tainted with a demon's!"

Hanabi inwardly frowned at the elder's words, and thought "_Nee-chan, be careful!"_

**(In the fight)**

Neji was trying his absolute hardest to hit Hinata now, but he couldn't seem to be able to even touch her. He saw no openings in her stance as she twisted around every single one of Neji's strikes. He looked up at her eyes and gasped. She didn't even have her Byakugan activated.

This time it was Neji who broke off of the engagement. He stood back and said "Why do you continue to fight against your fate?"

The frowning Hinata responded "And tell me Neji, what is this fate that I am appearently fighting against?"

Neji grimly responded "Death by my hand."

Hinata took a deep breath and slipped out of her Juho stance and let her arms hang by her side. She then said "Very well. I will prove to you that fate is not set in stone. You were once such a kind boy, and I've always wondered what happened to that boy. I believe that the elders warped you into what you are now." She then held her arms out and looked Neji straight in the eyes before saying "I will allow you one free hit. You may use it however you wish."

Neji scoffed again and said "The elders have made my mind clear. They have shown me that fate has designated you as both a demon and a traitor, and that it is my duty to end your life. It is your funeral to give me a free strike, but I intend to use your pathetic kindness to end your life!"

"Then do it!" shouted Hinata angrily, "Prove to me that it is my fate to die! I will destroy all doubts in your mind that fate is predetermined!"

At this, Neji charged Hinata and slammed his palm straight into the flesh above Hinata's heart.

Hinata crumpled to the ground and Neji turned away, deactivating his Byakugan and said "Procter, it is over. She is dead."

However, Neji froze when he heard a familiar voice say "I'm dead am I?"

Neji whirled back around and saw Hinata standing up. She had a trickle of blood coming out of her mouth. She wiped away the blood as Neji stuttered out "B-but t-that's i-impossible! I know I stopped your heart! Fate had determined that you would die there!"

Hinata gave a sad smile and said "You're just a poor bird trapped in a cage, who has been manipulated by the cage's owners. The owners have made you think that fate is not controllable and in doing so created the perfect tool. Fate is never set in stone. Fate is determined by your own actions. You tried to make my fate death by stopping my heart, but I made my fate life by healing my heart with my special foxfire!"

Neji was completely frozen in place as Hinata's words went straight to his core. Hinata began walking towards him as she continued "It was also not your father's fate to die to protect the main branch. I know the truth of what happened! Hizashi chose to go to his death to protect his family, his brother, and most of all, you! He made chose death for his loved ones as his fate, and escaped servitude to the main branch by doing so. You say that it is your own fate to live sealed as a branch member, but I will help you fight that fate!"

By now Hinata was right next to Neji, and she reached up and untied Neji's Hitae-ate. Neji was still too stunned to do anything as Hinata unwrapped the bandages on his head and revealed the cage bird seal.

Hinata whispered to Neji "If you were a free bird, what would you do with yourself?" as her right hand began glowing with lavender flames. She placed her hand on Neji's forehead, and slowly swiped it across the seal.

As Hinata's hand moved across his head, Neji felt his head become clearer and clearer. Hinata finished moving her hand and removed it from Neji's forehead. She looked Neji straight in the eyes and smiled a genuine smile.

Neji saw in Hinata's eyes the reflection of his now unmarked forehead and quietly asked "I'm free?"

Hinata responded "Yes cousin, you're a free bird now."

Neji then smiled for the first time in years, and looked back at Hinata. He opened his mouth to speak when suddenly he saw Hinata's eyes widen in horror, and she vanished from his sight.

Neji then heard the unmistaken thump of five Jyuken strikes hitting a body behind him. He slowly turned around and his eyes widened at what he saw.

He saw Hinata standing there, with a trickle of blood coming out of her still smiling mouth. She was completely cloaked in a glowing shroud of lavender **(this is Hinata's version of Naruto's Orange Flash Mode, it does something different though)**, and her five tails were wrapped around the source of the Jyuken strikes.

Her tails were wrapped around each of the five Hyuuga elders, one per tail.

One of the elders screamed out "You bitch! How dare you rob us of our most powerful tool! I knew we should have killed you when we killed your weak mother!"

All of the ninja who were listening in to the conversation with chakra enhanced hearing quietly gasped, and Hiashi muttered "Hitomi! I never knew…"

Hinata's expression quickly changed from one of shock to one of anger, and the sound of multiple bones breaking filled the air, followed by the screams of the five elders, whose ribs Hinata had broken by squeezing them with her tails. She then disengaged her chakra shroud.

Suddenly, the Hokage along with five ANBU appeared in the stadium in multiple swirls of leaves. The Hokage then said in a deathly serious voice to the elders "I find all five of you guilty of murder of a clan matriarch, and attempted murder of a ninja of the leaf. Your punishment is immediate execution!"

The ANBU started to move in when Hinata said "Wait! I want to hear why they killed my mother."

The ANBU stopped moving and looked to the Hokage, who said "Very well. What do you five have to say for yourselves?"

One of the elders spat "The woman was weak! Do we really need another reason besides that? Besides, she was trying to find a way to remove the caged bird seal. If she succeeded, the Hyuuga clan would have been ruined!"

The elders then screamed in pain again as Hinata began crushing them once more with her tails. She then said "In other words, you saw my mom as a threat to your total control over the clan, and deemed that she had to be removed. My mom was not weak! I looked up her file. She was a jonin by 15, and she was a master of water jutsu. However, as soon as she began deviating from the standard Hyuuga style of Jyuken, you all saw her as a weak failure, just like you see me. You all are the weak ones for sticking to such a stagnant style. I've seen more flaws in Jyuken than I care to count. And yet you see Jyuken as flawless! There is one word for people like you, and that is fools. The caged bird seal is ruining the Hyuuga clan! It is only one of the many reasons why I left the clan. However, I have now started the process of freeing the clan from itself. But for some reason when I freed Neji, you all made the move to attempt to kill him. Is it because that you are scared of what he will do once he is free? Or is it because you are afraid that he has surpassed you, and without a method to control him, he is too much of a threat to be left alive?"

One of the elders responded by saying "Quiet you demon whore! You have no business with the clan anymore, so what do you care anyways?"

"I may not be a Hyuuga anymore," responded Hinata, "But I will not stand for slavery! That is all the caged bird seal really is. The seal was given to the Hyuuga by the Uzumaki clan as a way of controlling prisoners in wartime, but it is now used to enslave members of the same clan! You use it to ensure your continued dominance inside of the clan by enslaving those who you deem a threat, or just killing those who you can't find a valid excuse to put the seal on. The seal is really not even good at protecting the Byakugan, which is the "reason" that you use it. It only activates upon death, so it is quite easy for enemies to steal the Byakugan from a branch member who is living, and it's also just as easy to kill a main branch member and steal their eyes. Face it, the Byakugan is only protected by the strength of the one who owns it! And that leads me to another thing, the seal also weakens the one who has been sealed over time, along with limiting the strength of the sealed Byakugan, and the potential growth of the afflicted! The branch members of the clan are all being held back from their true potential! Without the seal, the Hyuuga clan would be many times stronger than it currently is. However, in your greed and lust for power, you have weakened the clan so that you may remain in a lofty position!"

The elders were shocked by what Hinata said, and one of them asked "How do you know of the seals side effects? We were ensured that our ancestors had destroyed all records of them!"

"All records but one." Responded Hinata, "They were unable to destroy the record that the Uzumaki kept of the seal for their archives. The clan archives were not kept in a building in Uzushiogakure, so they escaped being destroyed when Uzushiogakure was wiped off the map. Instead, the archives were kept in an extremely powerful seal. The archives were physically handed down from heir to heir in the family, and they ended up in Kushina Uzumaki's possession. When Kushina secretly married the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze, she entrusted the archives to him. Minato placed them securely in the Namikaze clan vault, where they would await the next heir. My husband is that heir. We opened the archives and found many things, but the truth of the caged bird seal was what shocked me the most. Now all of the shinobi here know about the truth, and I have to say that the Hyuuga clan will lose a lot of respect from this."

"YOU BITCH! YOU'VE RUINED THE HYUUGA! WHEN OUR ENEMIES LEARN OF THIS, THEY WILL ATTACK WITHOUT MERCY! WE WILL ALL BE KILLED!" screamed one of the elders.

Suddenly, Hiashi appeared in the stadium in a swirl of leaves, and said to the elders "No. Hinata has not ruined the Hyuuga. She is saving it. She is attempting to follow in her mother's footsteps, and is succeeding where Hitomi failed. She is attempting something that I have long forgotten that I promised Hitomi to do. She is making the Hyuuga whole again." Hiashi then turned to Hinata and bowed down on his knees and said "I am truly sorry, my daughter. I have been blinded by my own arrogance and grief. I blamed you for both Hitomi's and Hizashi's deaths, and treated you like trash. I did not ever see you as my own daughter. And when you appeared before the council kissing the Uzumaki boy, I completely lost it. I started training Neji the moment you left for the sole purpose of getting revenge on you, and I have actually started to see him as my own son because of our shared hatred of you. Neji truly was trying to kill you today, but you saw past that and freed him from his seal. You even selflessly shielded him with your own body from a fatal attack. Seeing you today doing these things has reminded me of Hitomi's wishes, and has reminded me that you truly are Hitomi's first born daughter. You are like her in more ways than you can imagine. For this, I humbly ask, no, beg for you forgiveness, even though I truly deserve to be hated by you."

"Hiashi, stand. It is not fitting for a clan head to be in that position in front of all of these people." Said Hinata. Hiashi stood, and Hinata continued "I have never hated you, father. Even after you treated me so coldly, and refused to give me praise, I never hated you. I did, however, lose all of my respect for you. I have said before that my respect is earned, not given. But seeing you today bow to your knees and ask for my forgiveness in front of a stadium full of people has proven to me that you deserve some of my respect. I forgive you for your past mistakes, father, and I only wish that you will take the initiative and act like a true father from now on with Hanabi. I will help you restore the clan to its former glory by removing the caged bird seal from every branch member, but it is up to you to fully heal the rift that living divided has caused. I am no longer a Hyuuga, and I have no desire to become one ever again, but I have always wished for the Hyuuga to become one. When I see that you have fully achieved that, you will have fully earned both my complete forgiveness and respect."

Hiashi had tears in his eyes as he listened to Hinata and he said "You truly are Hitomi's daughter, Hinata. I can now see that you are much happier living as a Namikaze. I wish you luck in your new life, my daughter, and you will from now on be always welcome at the Hyuuga compound as an honorary member. But now we have some real trash to deal with. What should we do with these traitorous old fools?"

Hinata grinned and said "Instead of carrying out an immediate execution, how about we let Ibiki take care of them for a while. I'm sure they have a lot of dark secrets that they are hiding."

Hiashi nodded in agreement, and Hiruzen said "Very well. ANBU, take them away!"

The five ANBU stepped forwards and applied chakra and paralysis seals to each of the elders, before taking one each and shunshining away.

The Hokage then said "Hiashi, if you would please return to your seat. This match is still going on." Hiashi nodded and shunshined away, and then the Hokage shunshined back to his box. Once there, he announced to the crowd "I apologize for that unexpected interruption. We will continue with the fights as planned. Hopefully we will not have any more unexpected interruptions."

Hiruzen signaled to Genma, who then said to Hinata and Neji "Please continue when you are ready."

Neji started raising his hand when Hinata cut him off by saying "Don't forfeit cousin. I will now actually take this seriously. I want you to experience just how much you were limited by the seal."

Neji nodded and let his hand drop back down before getting into his Jyuken stance and activating his Byakugan. He immediately gasped when he did.

Hinata grinned and went into her Juho stance, also activating her Byakugan, and said "I take it that the improvements are immediately visible with the Byakugan?"

This time it was Neji's turn to grin, and he said "Everything is so much clearer! I can see so much further as well, and I have even more control with my telescopic vision! Alright cousin, here I come!"

With that, Neji lunged at Hinata with even more speed than ever before. This time, Hinata was forced to actively deflect a few of the palm strikes as she danced around the majority of them. To the untrained bystanders, it looked like the two were a blur of constant motion as they moved around the stadium.

However, even with Neji's improved speed and vision, he still was unable to land a strike on Hinata. Anything that she wasn't able to dodge, she would just knock away. Hinata then suddenly backflipped high into the air and went through a few rapid hand seals, before shouting "**Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!**" and releasing a huge fireball from her mouth.

Neji grinned as the fireball flew at him, and started spinning, creating a dome of chakra, and shouted "**KAITEN!**" The fireball smashed into the dome and dissipated. Neji stopped spinning and grinned at Hinata, who had just landed, and said "Did you think that I wouldn't know the kaiten by now? I was taught by both the elders and Hiashi-sama for the sole purpose of beating you. While I now see that that purpose is flawed, I have still gained many skills."

Hinata just grinned at him and started going through hand signs again, this time shouting "**Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu!**" Many of the more experienced shinobi in the stands were amazed as Hinata formed a giant dragon of water in front of her without a nearby water source. The dragon shot towards Neji, who used kaiten to deflect it, splashing a large portion of the crowd with water in the process.

As soon as Neji stopped spinning, he suddenly yelped in pain as he felt something bite his leg. He looked down and saw the blue fox that Hinata had appeared with gnawing on his leg. Neji was very confused as to how he didn't notice the fox with his Byakugan, but filed the thought away for later pondering. He shook the fox off and looked back to Hinata, only to see another water dragon heading his way. He quickly jumped out of the way as the water dragon flew into the wall behind him, leaving a large dent in the stone.

Neji once again focused on Hinata, only to see her standing absolutely still with her eyes closed. He then noticed what appeared to be green chakra gather from the surrounding air and mesh with Hinata's chakra system.

Hinata opened her eyes as silver pigmentation appeared near her eyes. Her once lavender eyes were now a shining silver, and Hinata's tail and ear fur had silver highlights in it.

Neji was shocked by Hinata's transformation, and he asked "What are you?"

Hinata giggled and said "I'm a lot of things, but I'm guessing that you are referring to this transformation. Let's just say that I'm a snow fox sage, and leave it at that for now. Anyways, I've decided to end this now."

Neji was instantly on guard at Hinata's cryptic words, but it wasn't any use. Hinata completely vanished from his sight, and reappeared in front of him. Neji struck out, but Hinata stopped his strike with one finger. She whispered to Neji "You're strong, cousin. But you are not strong enough. Become strong so that you may protect the ones you love, and never give up. Help my father rebuild my old clan, and look to the future, but don't forget about your past mistakes. Rest now, as you'll need all of your strength later today."

With that said, Hinata tapped Neji on the forehead, and he fell unconscious. Hinata caught Neji in her arms and walked to the center of stadium. The medics rushed out and Hinata handed Neji to them and said "He'll wake up in around half an hour. You don't really need to treat him. Just put him in a comfortable bed."

The medics nodded and headed off of the field. Genma then stepped forwards and announced "The winner of the first match of chunin exam finals is Hinata Namikaze!"

The crowd was dead silent at first, but the Hokage began clapping, followed by several of the higher ranked ninja. Gradually, the stadium began filling with applause as everybody reflected on the match and how Hinata had shown how selfless she was.

Hinata just smiled and warped back into the contestant's box, where she was immediately met with a huge kiss from Naruto. Breaking away from it, Naruto said quietly "Amazing job, Hime. That went better than we had planned. By the way, have I ever told you how beautiful you are in your sage mode?"

Hinata smiled sweetly and whispered back "Only every time I enter it. But I love hearing you say that."

When the applause for Hinata finally died down, Genma announced "The second match will be Kiba Inuzuka vs. Ino Yamanaka. Will the fighters please come down to the center of the arena?"

Ino and Kiba headed down into the stadium, and stood a ways from each other. Genma then announced "It's time for the second match! Kiba Inuzuka vs. Ino Yamanaka. HAJIME!"

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. I bet that none of you expected me to redeem Hiashi. Hinata also had a reason for using sage mode when she really didn't need to. But I'll explain that reason later.**

**Anyways, next chapter will probably have fights 2, 3, and 4 in it, as none of those fights are major enough to get a full chapter. But they will be interesting nonetheless.**

**Until next time,**

**Slice N Dicer**


	34. Chapter 33: Brawn, Brains, and Bugs

**(A/N) And we are finally back! I'm sorry about the lack of updates, but I have a few things to blame for it. First is the fact that I love reading too much and I get absorbed into whatever I read way too much. I've been reading a lot of fanfics, and they have been sucking away time. The second reason makes a bit more sense, and that is that I had my wisdom teeth removed last Thursday, and I've been slightly incapacitated due to it. I hate not being able to eat what I want. I am recovering very well though, so I should be able to get back into my almost daily update schedule.**

**I would also like to say that I've been thinking of beginning a new story. I would split my time mostly evenly between this one and the new one, so no worries about me abandoning this one. Once I start something, I have a tendency to finish it, and I intend on finishing this story. I just want a change of setting with what I am writing, and I really want to do a take with shy Hinata. There is no shy Hinata in this story, so I missed out on that, and I love shy Hinata. Then again, I love Hinata in general. The story would probably be a challenge fic, if I can find a good challenge to go with. It would also be Naruhina obviously, and would probably not be a harem. I am actually getting more used to the idea of a harem though, since I'm broadening my interests in what I have been reading. Feel free to recommend any challenges you've seen and really liked, or come up with your own challenge.**

**Anyways, I would like to personally recommend Brown Phantom's "Students of the Snake" for you all to read. It's one of the stories that I read recently, and I absolutely loved it, even though it is a harem story. The thing is, the harem is done extremely well, and Hinata is the "alpha-female" so to speak. The story features a good Orochimaru, and a corrupt leaf village, and it definitely is a unique take on the world of Naruto. While you are at it, you might as well read some of Brown Phantom's other stories, as he is just an amazing writer. My personal favorites are "He will be mine", "Keibatsu", "Ai Youki", and "Walk a Mile".**

**Enough talking though, on with the story!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 33: Brawn, Brains, and Bugs

The moment Genma began the second match, Ino reached into her tool pouch and threw a smoke bomb to the ground. A huge cloud of purple smoke erupted from the bomb, and Ino hid herself inside of it.

Kiba smirked at Ino's efforts to stay hidden, and thought "_So she wants to stay hidden so that she doesn't have to engage me in taijutsu? A clever strategy, if it were not for the fact that I am an Inuzuka!"_

Kiba sniffed the air to find Ino's scent so that he could locate her, only to find that all he could smell coming from the cloud was the scent of lilacs.

Kiba growled out "Clever girl, using a specially prepared smoke bomb that clouds our sense of smell." He then signaled for Akamaru to back away. Akamaru followed Kiba's orders and ran back away.

From inside the smoke cloud, Ino's voice said "That's right, dog boy! I know all about your sense of smell, and I intend on using it against you! But let's see if you can handle this!"

Inside of the smoke, Ino was standing still, going through hand signs. She whispered "**Magen: Jabaku Satsu: Pulse!**" as she finished her signs, releasing a pulse of chakra that she knew would reach Kiba without touching anybody in the audience.

Kiba waited patiently, as the smoke was starting to clear, when he suddenly felt a weird pulse travel through him. Suddenly, a large tree grew behind him, wrapping him up in its branches. He looked up to see Ino's body began emerging from the tree, kunai in hand.

Kiba's mind was racing, as he thought "_Crap! Genjutsu! I knew she would try one, but I didn't think that she would know Kurenai-sensei's specialty. And it seems like she modified it so that I could be effected without directly looking at her. I know that I can't break out of this on my own."_

Meanwhile, in the real world, the smoke had just cleared to reveal a smirking Ino. Kiba was meanwhile standing still with a glazed look in his eyes.

**(In the stands)**

"Well it looks like Ino won this match. Troublesome." Said Shikamaru through a yawn.

Naruto grinned and said "I wouldn't count Kiba out just yet, Shikamaru. Ino would have definitely won if Kiba was alone, but you are forgetting that Kiba is not alone. There is a reason why I genjutsu won't affect me, and that reason applies to Kiba right now."

Fu nodded and said "That's right. So long as Kiba isn't alone, he shouldn't have a problem with genjutsu, unless it's a really strong one."

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows and said "I get it. Akamaru."

**(In the stadium)**

Ino had started walking towards Kiba at a relaxed pace with a kunai drawn. She was going to end it by incapacitating Kiba fully while he was under the genjutsu.

Suddenly, Akamaru shot out from behind a tree and ran towards Kiba. He leapt onto Kiba's head, and injected some chakra into his master. Kiba blinked back into reality and saw Ino a few feet in front of him. He leapt forwards at Ino and yelled "Alright Akamaru! Thanks for breaking the genjutsu!"

Ino's eyes widened at the sudden turn of events and she was immediately put on the defensive in a taijutsu fight. She thought "_Damn! How could I have forgotten about Akamaru? This is bad. I don't stand a chance in a taijutsu fight, even though I practiced a bit. I'm just not at his level."_

Kiba was dominating the fist fight, and he landed a few heavy blows on Ino. He suddenly pulled back and said "I'll give you one chance to forfeit. I hate to hurt you more than I have to."

Ino hung her head and raised her hand before saying "Procter, I forfeit. I have no chance of beating Kiba in a taijutsu fight, and there is no way that he would let me put him in another genjutsu. I just had a bad matchup this time around."

At this, Genma jumped into the stadium and announced "The winner of the second match by forfeit is Kiba Inuzuka!"

The crowd exploded into applause as Kiba and Ino shook hands and headed back into the contestants box. Once they reached it, they were both heavily congratulated by their peers for a great effort.

When the applause died down, Genma announced "The third match of the finals is Shikamaru Nara vs. Sabaku no Temari! Will the contestants please come down to the center of the stadium?"

Temari immeadiately flew down by riding her fan, while Shikamaru lazily started walking towards the stadium. By time he got there, the crowd was quite annoyed with him, as he took five minutes to get there.

When he finally took his place, Genma announced "Alright! The third match is Shikamaru Naru vs. Sabaku no Temari! HAJIME!"

When Genma leapt away, Temari said to Shikamaru "Alright lazy boy. You better give me a good fight!"

Shikamaru replied, saying "Normally I would just forfeit right now, but my mom said that she would make my life "troublesome" if I did. I would rather not have to deal with that, even if fighting a girl is troublesome."

A tick mark appeared on Temari's forehead when she heard this, and she whipped her fan around, unleashing a huge gust of wind at Shikamaru, while she yelled "And just what is so troublesome about fighting a girl?"

Shikamaru leapt to the side of the gust of wind just in time, and when he landed he made the rat seal and sent his shadow streaking towards Temari.

Temari leapt backwards several times as the shadow followed her, but it suddenly stopped in front of her. Temari smirked and said "It seems like your shadow can only extend so far. If I stay at a long range and attack you from afar, this fight will be a cinch."

Surprisingly, Shikamaru smirked at her words and he disengaged his shadow. He then said "So you say. But what happens when I stop using my shadow?" He then went through hand signs rapidly and shouted "**Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!**" He exhaled a large fireball towards Temari, blocking her vision of him while digging a trench into the ground.

Temari smirked and said "**Kiryu Sosa!**" **(Air Current Manipulation) **As the fireball neared Temari, it was caught by the air current surrounding Temari's body, which then directed it in a circle around Temari's body and sent it flying back towards Shikamaru, who was now a lot closer to Temari.

Shikamaru crouched down and made the rat sign again, saying "**Eiheki!**" **(Shadow wall) **Shikamaru's shadow went about a foot in front of him before it stopped and then spread out horizontally, before a wall of shadow emerged from the horizontal line. The fireball impacted the wall, and to almost everybody's surprise, it was absorbed into the wall, causing the wall to expand in size.

**(In the stands)**

Sitting together somewhere in the stands were the clan heads Shikaku, Choza, and Inoichi. They had come to enjoy seeing their children fight, and hopefully become chunin.

However, at Shikamaru's display of Eiheki, Shikaku's eyes widened and he muttered "Where did he learn that?"

Choza was curious and he asked "What do you mean, Shikaku? Surely you were the one who prepared him for this match."

Shikaku shook his head and said "Actually I didn't. Shikamaru came to me after Yoshino threatened to make his life troublesome if he forfeited his match. He probably was going to, but Yoshino's threat must have awakened something in him. He said to me "Dad, it's troublesome, but do I have your permission to stay and train at a friend's house instead of with you? I think I'll learn more that way." I asked him which friend, and he said "Naruto." I agreed that he could go, but I honestly didn't expect him to actually train hard. Anyways, that jutsu that he just used is a jutsu that my grandfather made. As far as I know, the only copy of the jutsu and its workings is locked away in our clan vault. I never taught Shikamaru how to use it, and I know that he never asked to see anything in the vault, so I'm really wondering how my son knows it."

Inoichi chuckled and said "Well apparently the Yondaime must have made a copy of it. He always did like collecting jutsu scrolls. I'm betting that Shikamaru found it when he was training at Naruto's or Naruto showed it to him. Naruto does have full access to the entire jutsu collection since he lives in the Namikaze estate."

Shikaku chuckled and said "I guess that you are right. Anyways, I think that Shikamaru will win now that he used that jutsu."

Choza asked "But what exactly did that jutsu do?"

Shikaku answered "It absorbed the fireball and turned it into shadow. Shikamaru now isn't limited by the size of his own shadow, and his options have increased a thousand fold. So long as he doesn't release the technique, then he has all of the shadow necessary to end this fight.

**(In the stadium)**

Shikamaru made his wall collapse into a very large circular shadow on the ground before he said "I'm ending this."

The shadow circle then split into multiple tendrils of varying thickness that shot towards Temari. Temari was hard pressed avoiding all of the tendrils, but she was able to avoid all of them. Suddenly, she realized that the tendrils were not just moving in an effort to capture her. Instead, all around her, the shadows had formed into what looked like a sealing matrix, with her in the middle!

Shikamaru said "And that's checkmate." The shadow matrix began glowing, and Temari knew that she had to get away or else she was finished. She was no expert at fuinjutsu, but she knew that it had endless possibilities. However, as soon as she tried to jump away, she found that she couldn't move.

Shikamaru released his hands, releasing his jutsu and said "As I said, checkmate. I had this planned from the very beginning. The first step was to acquire a large enough shadow with Eiheki, and I knew that I could make use of your control of air currents to give me that shadow. Eiheki is an interesting technique. It is a wall that absorbs jutsu and converts it into usable shadow. The downside is that the amount of shadow that I get is proportional to the light that the absorbed jutsu gives off. In other words, wind, water, and earth jutsu wouldn't give me much while fire and lighting jutsu would give me a lot. Since you are a wind user, I had to get you to either use a technique that isn't your element or get you to redirect one of my own techniques. I saw how you stopped the fireball that Tenten shot at you in the preliminaries, so I figured I could make use of that. Once I had the required shadow size, it was a simple matter of leading you to think that I was trying to trap you with Kagemane when in reality I was creating a sealing matrix. Since you had to focus on avoiding my shadows, it wasn't difficult at all. I created a large scale paralysis seal. Anything within the seal's outer boundaries, meaning you, is now paralyzed for one hour." Shikamaru then walked towards the immobile Temari and held a kunai to her neck before saying "And to answer your question, fighting girls is troublesome since I don't like harming girls. It just feels _wrong_. It has nothing to do with whether you are strong or not. I know that girls are strong. My mom and Hinata have proved that countless times, and you have proven it in your fight against Tenten."

Temari unconsciously blushed at Shikamaru's words and Genma hopped back into the stadium. He announced "The winner of the third match is Shikamaru Nara via incapacitation!" The crowd burst into applause. This match was far more exciting than the previous in the civilians' eyes. In the eyes of the ninja, Shikamaru had just gained a whole lot of respect. He proved that he was a genius worthy of the Nara name, as well as showing talent in fuinjutsu, something that is not seen every day.

Genma then said to Shikamaru "Is there any way for you to give Temari her mobility back or does she have to wait the whole hour?"

Shikamaru grunted and made the rat hand sign, sending his shadow around Temari, and forming another sealing matrix. The matrix glowed for a moment and Temari found herself able to move again.

Temari then said in a quiet voice "I'm impressed lazy boy. You certainly gave a good fight, even though I barely did anything. You've proved that you've got brains. How about a match of shogi sometime? I have to warn you that I've never been beaten in shogi before."

Shikamaru grinned and said quietly "Shogi, eh? That is certainly not a troublesome offer. I'll take you up on it sometime after _today's events_."

Temari could tell by the tone in which he said "today's events" that he knew about the invasion plan. She let out an unconscious sigh of relief and said "Okay then, it's a date! Let's get back into the stands."

Shikamaru's eyes widened at Temari calling it a date, but he said nothing and the pair headed back into the contestants box.

Genma then announced "Will the contestants of the fourth match please come down!"

Choji started heading to the stadium via the stairs, while Shino seemingly exploded into bugs that flew down and reformed in the middle of the stadium. He waited for Choji to arrive, and when he did, Genma announced "Alright! The fourth match of the finals is Shino Aburame vs. Choji Akimichi! HAJIME!"

**(In the stands)**

Shikamaru and Temari had just arrived back into the box, and Naruto immediately gave Shikamaru a high five. He then said "That was awesome Shikamaru! Training with us really helped you a lot."

Shikamaru grinned and said "You got that right. I have to say that I've really taken a liking to fuinjutsu. I can see why your family is so crazy about it, it's so useful. The idea you had of making seals on the fly with my shadows was absolutely brilliant."

Naruto grinned right back at him and said "After working with you a few days, the idea just floated into my head." Naruto then whispered "Anyways, if I heard right you've got yourself a shogi date, don't you?"

Shikamaru blushed a bright red and said "You and your troublesome hearing abilities! That was supposed to be private!"

Naruto laughed out loud and said "Don't worry, Hina-chan and I can keep a secret. Anyways, what do you think of this next fight?"

Shikamaru's color returned to normal and he said "I hate to say it since Choji's my best friend, but he doesn't stand a chance against Shino given what he is."

Naruto nodded and said "I agree. However, I'm curious to see what Choji is going to do. I'm also curious to hear what the audience will think of Shino when he dispels his henge."

Shikamaru just nodded at Naruto's words and they watched on in silence.

**(In the stadium)**

While Naruto and Shikamaru had been talking, Choji had been trying to hit Shino with basic taijutsu. It wasn't working at all.

Shino suddenly disengaged Choji and said "Now that I've got everyone's full attention once again, I think it is time to reveal my true self."

Choji stepped backwards as Shino made a hand sign and said "Kai." His body dissolved into millions of insects and reformed into his eighteen year old self. Only this time, Shino wasn't wearing his trench coat or undershirt. He stood proudly with his extremely well built body, showing off his beetle tattoo for all to see.

**(In the stands)**

Shikaku, Inoichi, and Choza all gawked at Shino. Choza said "That's really Shibi's boy? What happened to him? He was a normal thirteen year old boy last time I checked! But now he's like Naruto and Hinata!"

A quiet voice then said next to the trio "Your analysis is astute, Choza-san."

The trio turned to the voice and were completely shocked to see Shibi sitting next to them. Inoichi asked "When did you get here, Shibi?"

Shibi's aura became depressed for a moment as he said "I was always sitting here. I even said hello to you three when I got here. It would appear that you three have forgotten me once again. Anyways, you said that Shino is like Naruto and Hinata. You are correct. He is a hanyou, and is the king of our clan's new queen. Now I would suggest being quiet and watching my son."

**(In the stadium)**

Choji said to Shino "I know for a fact that you are out of my league, Shino, but I am not going to give up. I will probably lose, but I'm still going to try and prove that I am worthy of chunin!"

Shino gave a small smile and said "Very well. Come and try your hardest!"

Choji gave a huge grin and yelled "Alright! Let's go all out! **CHO BAIKA NO JUTSU!**"

With that, Choji's entire body began expanding at an alarming rate. He stopped growing when his head was at the level of the stadium roof. He then cocked back a fist and said "Try and stop this!"

From Shino's point of view, it was like a meteor flying directly at him. However, Shino was unfazed. The fist came closer and closer and it finally impacted.

To everybody in the stands, it felt like a meteor had actually struck the ground. It looked like it too with the new crater in the center of the field. But if you looked closely, Choji's fist was not touching the ground.

It was touching and was completely stopped by Shino's single outstretched arm. The crater was just from the pressure of the fist being diffused into the ground through Shino's body.

To say that the crowd was shocked would be an understatement. They were completely floored that Shino had stopped the attack with a single outstretched arm.

Choji undid his expansion and stared at Shino in absolute shock. He had expected Shino to dodge, not to stop his blow.

Seeing Choji's shock, Shino said "I can see that you are shocked and confused at the fact that I stopped your fist. It is simple really." He held out his arm and it proceeded to dissolve into a million insects that began flying around the stadium before returning and reconstituting back into his arm, as well as his shirt and trench coat. He then continued "The Aburame from birth use their bodies as hives for kikai. I was like that too, but now I am different. Instead of using my body as a hive, I AM the hive. I am actually a being composed entirely of other beings. Together, I am Shino, but apart, I am billions upon billions of a one of a kind insect. I am still human, but at the same time, I am not. Shino is the name of the conscious of the hive. I was able to stop you because I am not one being, but many. By adjusting the quantity and density of insects in specific locations of my body, I am able to form an impenetrable defense. That is how I stopped you. But now it is over."

With that said, Shino's arm disintegrated into millions of insects that flew around and landed on Choji. Choji could do nothing as his chakra was rapidly drained. Within moments, he fell to the ground, unconscious.

With that, Genma stepped forwards and said "The winner of the fourth match is Shino Aburame!"

Choji was carried off on a stretcher by medics as Shino's arm reconstituted itself and the croud erupted into applause. Shino then burst into insects and flew back into the contestant's box where he reformed. Once there, he received a huge kiss courtesy of Fu, who also said "That's my king for you! Although in my opinion, you could have showed off a bit more."

Shino kissed her back and said "Next time I will, my love. But now it is time for your match. Make me proud."

Fu nodded and jumped into the stadium with great enthusiasm. She was soon followed by Haku, who also jumped down gracefully. Once they got into position, Genma announced "The fifth match of the finals is Fu Aburame vs Haku Nii! HAJIME!"

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap! Shino's ability is very unique, and rather difficult to explain, but I hope you got the general idea. I also would like to say that I got the idea of Shikamaru using his shadows for fuinjutsu from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. I got the general idea from when Pride forced Roy Mustang to use Human Transmutation. When he did, he formed a pattern on the ground with his shadows. So I thought, why wouldn't Shikamaru be able to do that with his own shadows to make seals? I think that it's a cool idea with a lot of potential possibilities.**

**Anyways, the next fight will probably be a chapter long fight, and it certainly will be interesting. A fight between two Hanyou always is.**

**Until next time,**

**Slice N Dicer**


	35. Chapter 34: Hanyou vs Hanyou

**(A/N) And we are back! I've got some good news. I have decided to take Brown Phantom's Hidden Bloodline challenge! I've got pretty much everything planned out for starting it, and you should expect the first chapter of my new story to be done tomorrow. The story will be called "Resonating Hearts", and the Kekkei Genkai that Naruto will receive will be called the Kyoshingan. This fic will feature a threesome between Naruto, Hinata, and a female Kyuubi, who is affectionately called Kura-chan (short for Kurama. Kura was quite displeased with the sage of the six paths when he gave her a masculine name). I won't tell you any more than that, so keep your eyes out for it!**

**I have also accepted a challenge from a guy named Rinnegan97. That will be my third story, and I will probably start it once I get around twenty chapters into "Resonating Hearts". I'll release details of the challenge when I get closer to starting it. I have some of it planned already, but nothing near the level of what I already have planned for "Resonating Hearts".**

**I would also like to say that by next chapter in this story, I should have reached 500 reviews! That's quite the milestone in my opinion. So a huge thanks to everybody who has gone and taken the time to leave me a review. I love reading them, and I especially love when you guys ask questions that I can answer with PMs. Talking with fellow Naruhina fans is something that I love doing, and I also love telling people things about my story that were not fully explained directly in the story. Doing this also helps me plan out future events in my story.**

**Something I would like to say is that I have noticed an interesting variation in the size of Hinata's breasts in various fanfics. But most people seem to agree that Hinata is the most well-endowed Kunoichi in all of Konoha, not counting Tsunade. My opinions on Hinata's bust size are as follows: At age thirteen, Hinata has C-cup breasts, which procede to grow into D-cups after the timeskip. In case of unnatural breast enhancement, e.g. Hanyoufication, her breasts swell to an amazing E-cup. In this instance, Hinata overtakes Tsunade, who has D pushing E cups. I'm not sure why I brought this up, and these are completely my opinions, but we can all agree on one thing (or at least all straight males can): Breasts are amazing!**

**Okay, now that I've gotten my closet pervertedness out of the way, let's get on with the story!**

**()()()()()()()()**

Chapter 34: Hanyou vs Hanyou

The moment that Genma jumped out of the stadium, both Fu and Haku made a handsign and yelled "KAI!" A whirlwind of scale powder engulfed Fu, while a whirlwind of snowflakes and blue flames engulfed Haku. Both whirlwinds died to reveal the two Hanyou.

Most of the civilians in the crowd then began muttering among themselves, as they didn't know what to think about the newly revealed "demon spawn".

However, Fu and Haku didn't care at all what everybody else thought of them, so they launched into a taijutsu fight, Fu by flying towards Haku, and Haku by skating towards Fu. Fu launched the first punch mid flight, but Haku ducked the punch and let Fu fly over her head. One of Haku's tails wrapped around Fu's leg, catching her just before she got out of reach, and threw Fu to the ground.

There was nowhere near enough air time for Fu to recover, so she hit the ground in a harsh belly flop that cracked the ground. However, the impact didn't phase Fu very much, and she immediately pushed off the ground and leapt back up, turning on Haku and launching another punch at her.

Haku caught the punch in her hand, but Fu used her wings to burst towards Haku. Fu grabbed Haku and took off into the air, holding Haku tight. Fu flew straight upwards for a ways before turning back towards the ground, which she shot at like a rocket. At the last moment before impact, Fu released Haku to her doom and swerved off her crash course.

Haku smashed into the ground with enough force to create a large crater. She coughed up blood upon the devastating impact. Fu knew that this wouldn't keep Haku down for long, so she flew above the crater and made some hand signs, saying "**Doton: Toji Chikyu!**" **(Earth style: Closing Earth)**, which caused the nearby ground to close the top of the crater with Haku still inside, essentially creating a lidded bowl.

Fu immediately ran through more hand signs and said "**Futon: Kussaku Tatsumaki!**" **(Wind style: Drilling Tornado)**. This caused a drill of wind to appear around her right arm, which she then launched at the closed crater with a punching motion.

As the drill flew downwards, it expanded into a huge, focused tornado. However, the moment before the tornado touched the ground, the ground broke apart as a huge blue fireball shot out of the crater. The fireball met with the tornado and was fueled by it, creating a massive fiery vortex. The vortex soon dissipated as the fire completely consumed the wind jutsu for fuel.

Fu was momentarily blinded by the light that the vortex gave off, and she covered her eyes until it dissipated while she hovered above it. When it did, she looked back down to see Haku standing in the crater with a smirk on her face, and an ice mirror in front of her. Haku punched the mirror, but instead of hitting the mirror, her arm melted into the mirror. Suddenly, Fu felt something hit her in the back hard, and she was sent plummeting towards the ground.

Fu broke her fall somewhat by flapping her wings, but she still landed heavily. She looked up to where she had been and saw a mirror of ice with Haku's arm sticking out of it. The arm retracted back into the mirror, and Fu looked towards the real Haku and saw her taking her arm out of the mirror.

Both mirrors melted away as Haku started going through hand signs. She called out "**Hyoton: Neko Hi Akuma-kyo Jigoku!**" **(Ice style: Cat fire demonic mirror hell)** A series of 21 mirrors formed all around Fu in a dome. Blue flames then started leaking off of each of the mirrors, filling in the gaps that the mirrors left. The ground of the dome was also covered in a thick sheet of ice. The end result was a completely enclosed Fu, with no passage to escape from.

On the outside of the dome, Haku stepped into a mirror, and then reflected herself onto the other 20 mirrors.

**(In the stands)**

In the contestants' box, everyone was watching the match with great interest, when somebody behind them said "Haku-chan is really going all out now. It will be interesting to see how long it takes Fu-chan to escape this."

Everybody turned around to see Yugito walking up to them in her Hanyou form.

"Do you have any idea what technique this is? I can't see what's going on inside of it." asked Ino.

Yugito nodded and said "This is Haku-chan's newest specialty. Previously, she was able to create a dome of ice mirrors, but there were gaps in between that people could escape from. That normally wasn't a problem, as Haku-chan is quite fast, but it was still doable. This technique solves that issue. With the wall of cat flames in between the mirrors, it is almost impossible to escape. Even still, it's not perfect, as there are a few ways to escape this. A sufficiently powerful attack can shatter the mirrors, but that only gives a split second's time to escape, as the cat flames will quickly close the gap. The other main way that I would think to escape this would be to create a powerful enough shockwave that would blow away the cat flames, but that is also difficult to do, and the flames will return quickly. Fu-chan has her work cut out for her."

"Well Fu-chan could always try to ignite her scale powder on the flames. That would create quite the explosion." Stated Naruto.

"That's crazy!" shouted Ino. "An explosion of that magnitude would be suicidal since she's also stuck inside the dome!"

Hinata giggled and said "Actually, that's probably what Fu-chan will end up doing. She is a bit of an adrenaline junkie, and likes to live dangerously. Since she's a Hanyou, she would obviously survive, but she wouldn't escape unscathed, but neither would Haku-chan. It also depends on how much scale powder Fu-chan would use. I just hope she doesn't go overkill with it and use enough that it would hurt people in the stands."

With that, they all waited for whatever was going to happen.

**(In the dome)**

Fu was currently doing her best to dodge a seemingly endless amount of ice spikes and blue fireballs, but she had gotten hit several times. Suddenly, the barrage of attacks stopped and Haku's voice echoed out from seemingly everywhere at once, saying "If you don't do anything to escape this, then you will eventually be worn down."

Fu responded, saying "I know. That's why I intend on escaping this now! Thanks for stopping for a moment!" She then blurred through hand signs and shouted "**Rinpun: Kaze Domu!**" **(Scale Powder: Wind Dome)**

From Fu's body, a swirling dome of sparkling wind expanded off of Fu's body. Fu then held out her arms and shouted "EXPAND!" The dome began expanding in size rapidly, the sparkling wall quickly getting closer to the flaming dome.

Haku only just had the time to think "_That settles it. Fu-chan is insane." _The sparkling wall of wind then touched the dome of fire, all at once.

Everybody in the stadium was staring at the blue dome, wondering what was happening inside of it, when suddenly…

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!

The entire dome exploded with an astounding amount of force, sending out a shockwave that pinned everybody to their seats. Several people were knocked unconscious by the shockwave, and everybody suddenly felt like they were melting as the heat from the explosion suddenly hit them.

Fortunately the heat quickly left as it dissipated into the surrounding air, and the dust cloud that the explosion created began to settle.

When it finally settled, the entire crowd gasped in surprise. The entire floor of the stadium was now a giant, scorched crater. What surprised them even more was that in the middle of the stadium, both Fu and Haku were still standing. Both had blood dripping from their mouths, and both had several nasty burn marks on their bodies. However the burn marks on both of them were rapidly healing before everybody's eyes. However, there was one fact that caught everybody's attention.

Both Fu and Haku's clothing had been completely burned away, leaving them in their bras and panties, although Haku still had her storage armband on her right arm. Fu's were lime green, and Haku's were silver with light blue snowflakes.

**(In the stands)**

"How the hell are they still standing?" asked Ino loudly.

"Hmm…if I had to guess from what I felt happen to their chakras, both of them initiated a chakra cloak to protect themselves at the last moment." Said Naruto. "That was quite the explosion though, to be able to blast away a chakra cloak. It's a really good thing that they were wearing their durable undergarments, or they both would be naked right now."

Hinata giggled and said "They must have bought those from Durabra, the only shop that sells bras and panties that can withstand A rank jutsus. That's where I got what I'm wearing right now. They should really think about expanding their selection to include regular clothing. They would make quite the killing."

Meanwhile, a large portion of the crowd had nosebleeds at the sight of the barely clad girls. Shino and Yugito on the other hand were both thinking the same thing "_She looks better without those on._"

**(In the arena)**

The moment that Haku and Fu's burns had finished healing, they lunged at each other again. Their fists met each other, and a shockwave was the result. Fu back flipped away and sent six wind blades from each of her tails at Haku mid flip. Haku responded by creating an ice mirror, which took the six blades with barely a scratch.

Fu called out to Haku "How about we end this with one final technique each? Whoever's technique overpowers the other's is the winner of this fight."

"Very well. Let's see what you have got!" responded Haku.

Both combatants ran through hand seals and called out at the same time "**Hyoton: Neko no Hi Oni Yari!**" **(Cat fire demon spear) **and "**Futon: Ju Kussatsu Tatsumaki!**" **(Double drilling tornado)**

Two wind drills appeared around Fu's hands, and she launched them as one giant wind drill by punching with her fists together. Haku held her hand above her head, and an ornate ice spear that flickered with blue flames formed. Haku launched the spear by throwing her arm forwards.

The two techniques clashed. The flames on the spear ignited the wind, but surprisingly, that only seemed to fuel the drill's power. The now flaming drill slowly but surely started to grind away the ice spear.

Haku saw that her technique was losing, and she knew that she had to get out of the way. She leapt to the side just as the drill finished boring through the spear. The drill shot forwards and hit the stadium wall, which it proceeded to drill deeply into. Fortunately, most of the drill's power had been used up in the fight against the ice spear, and the technique dissipated before it could drill completely through.

Haku sighed and raised her hand and called out "Proctor, I forfeit. I agreed to a final jutsu clash and mine lost."

Genma jumped down and announced "The winner of the fifth match of the chunin exam finals is Fu Aburame!"

The crowd roared in applause as Haku and Fu shook hands and began heading back towards the contestants' box. The fight between the two Hanyou had truly been spectacular.

When Fu and Haku had cleared out, Genma announced "The final match of the first round of the chunin exam finals is Sabaku no Gaara vs. Naruto Namikaze! Will the contestants please come down to the center?"

Gaara looked to Naruto and nodded, before bursting into sand and reforming in the center of the stadium. Naruto kissed Hinata before shunshining to the center of the stadium in a swirl of blue flames.

With the two contestants now ready, Genma announced "Alright, the final match of the first round of the finals is Sabaku no Gaara vs. Naruto Namikaze! HAJIME!"

**()()()()()()()()**

**And that's a wrap. This chapter is a little short, but I only wanted to do the Fu vs. Haku fight in it. The next fight will be an entire chapter as well. However, tomorrow I am starting "Resonating Hearts", so we won't get to that until the next day.**

**Some of you might think that Haku's technique should have beaten Fu's, but Fu's technique was a little special. It absorbed the flames into itself and became stronger, instead of the flames using the wind completely as fuel. It did this since that technique was the pinnacle of wind manipulation. While most wind techniques wouldn't work against fire, if one reaches the pinnacle of wind manipulation, then the fire will instead be absorbed. Very few people can do this.**

**Anyways, until next time,**

**Slice N Dicer**


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